Faisal al-Husseini
فيصل الحسيني
PLO Executive Committee member and head of Jerusalem affairs; founder of the Arab Studies Society at Orient House
Son of Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini, known as the Lion of Jerusalem — he built Orient House into the PLO's political address in the occupied city and defended its Arab identity until his death in 2001.
Faisal al-Husseini was born in Baghdad on 17 July 1940, to a family at the centre of Palestinian national politics: his grandfather Musa Kazim al-Husseini headed the Jerusalem municipality from 1918 and led the Arab Executive Committee from 1920 until his death in 1934, and his father, Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini, commander of the Army of the Holy War, was killed at al-Qastal in April 1948. Raised in Egypt, Faisal volunteered with his brothers in the popular resistance to the 1956 attack on Egypt, joined the Movement of Arab Nationalists in 1958, and in 1959 helped found the General Union of Palestinian Students in Cairo, where he met Yasir Arafat.
He returned to Jerusalem in 1964 to run the popular organisation department in the new PLO office, attended the military academy in Aleppo in 1966, and joined the Palestine Liberation Army. After the June 1967 defeat he supervised a training camp for Palestinian volunteers in Lebanon, then crossed the Jordan back into occupied Jerusalem, where the Israelis arrested him and sentenced him to a year’s imprisonment on 15 October 1967. On release he stayed in the city, joined Fatah, and fought a ten-year legal battle to obtain a Jerusalem identity card. In 1980 he founded the Arab Studies Society with a group of Palestinian academics; the Israeli authorities harassed and repeatedly closed it, and placed Husseini under house arrest from 1982 to 1987. In 1987 he set up the Palestinian Human Rights Center and the Committee Against the Iron Fist, and became one of the most prominent leaders of the First Intifada, detained intermittently until 1989.
In 1991 he held the talks with US Secretary of State James Baker that prepared the Madrid peace conference and helped supervise the Palestinian team in the Washington negotiations. From that year the Orient House in Jerusalem served as his headquarters and became the PLO’s political address in the occupied territories, where the negotiating team met and foreign officials were received. He took charge of Jerusalem affairs for the PLO in 1995 and was elected to the PLO Executive Committee in 1996. He confronted settlement construction at Har Homa on Jabal Abu Ghunaym, survived assassination attempts by Israeli settlers, and on 28 September 2000 stood with other Jerusalemites against Ariel Sharon’s tour of the Haram al-Sharif, which set off the Second Intifada.
Known as the Lion of Jerusalem, Husseini died on 31 May 2001 during a visit to Kuwait. He was buried the next day on the Haram al-Sharif beside his father and grandfather, mourned by tens of thousands of Palestinians; the UN Security Council observed a minute of silence in his honour.
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Connected in the archive
17 connected records17 records elsewhere in the archive are linked to this one, each by a piece of evidence you can read below.
named in this record — 4 records
One record names the other. A pointer for reading, not a claim that they belong to each other.
- Al-Qastalالقسطل
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Faisal al-Husseini was born in Baghdad on 17 July 1940, to a family at the centre of Palestinian national politics: his grandfather Musa Kazim al-Husseini headed the Jerusalem municipality from 1918 and led the Arab Executive Committee from 1920 until his death in 1934, and his father, Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini, commander of the Army of the Holy War, was killed at al-Qastal in April 1948.
- Jerusalemالقدس
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: He returned to Jerusalem in 1964 to run the popular organisation department in the new PLO office, attended the military academy in Aleppo in 1966, and joined the Palestine Liberation Army.
- The First Intifada
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: In 1980 he founded the Arab Studies Society with a group of Palestinian academics; the Israeli authorities harassed and repeatedly closed it, and placed Husseini under house arrest from 1982 to 1987. In 1987 he set up the Palestinian Human Rights Center and the Committee Against the Iron Fist, and became one of the most prominent leaders of the First Intifada, detained intermittently until 1989.
- The Second Intifada
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: He took charge of Jerusalem affairs for the PLO in 1995 and was elected to the PLO Executive Committee in 1996. He confronted settlement construction at Har Homa on Jabal Abu Ghunaym, survived assassination attempts by Israeli settlers, and on 28 September 2000 stood with other Jerusalemites against Ariel Sharon's tour of the Haram al-Sharif, which set off the Second Intifada.
names this person — 2 records
One record names the other. A pointer for reading, not a claim that they belong to each other.
- Abd al-Qadir al-Husayniعبد القادر الحسيني
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: His son Faisal al-Husseini later led the Palestinian national institutions in Jerusalem.
- The Husayni familyالحسيني
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Abd al-Qadir's son Faisal al-Husseini (1940–2001) founded the Arab Studies Society in 1979, made the family's Orient House the PLO's address in the city, and ended his career as the Palestinian Authority's Minister for Jerusalem Affairs; he was buried beside his father and grandfather in the Khatuniyya madrasa by the Haram al-Sharif.
on a related subject — 11 records
Filed near each other — the same Mandate district, or the same uncommon subject tags.
- Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad)خليل الوزير (أبو جهاد)
Evidence — From a recorded field in this archive: Shared tags: "Fatah", "First Intifada".
- Armenian Ceramics of Jerusalem
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "Jerusalem".
- Haidar Abdel Shafiحيدر عبد الشافي
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "Madrid Conference".
- Intissar al-Wazir (Umm Jihad)انتصار الوزير (أم جهاد)
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "Fatah".
- Marwan Barghoutiمروان البرغوثي
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "Fatah".
- Sheikh Ahmed Yassinأحمد إسماعيل ياسين
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "First Intifada".
- and 5 more
Cite this page
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- Chicago
“Faisal al-Husseini.” Figures, FALASTEEN.AI. Accessed 22 August 2026. https://falasteen.ai/figures/faisal-husseini.- MLA
“Faisal al-Husseini.” Figures, FALASTEEN.AI, 2026, https://falasteen.ai/figures/faisal-husseini. Accessed 22 August 2026.- BibTeX
@misc{falasteen-faisal-husseini, title = {Faisal al-Husseini}, howpublished = {\url{https://falasteen.ai/figures/faisal-husseini}}, organization = {FALASTEEN.AI — A Living Archive for Palestine}, year = {2026}, note = {Accessed 2026-08-22} }