![LondonConference1939](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/LondonConference1939.jpg)
Musa Alami (3 May 1897 – 8 June 1984) ( ar, موسى العلمي, ) was a prominent
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
nationalist and politician. Due to Alami having represented Palestine at various Arab conferences, in the 1940s, he was viewed by many as the leader of the Palestinian Arabs.
Biography
Early life and political career
Alami was born in the
Musrara neighborhood of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
,
Palestine, into a prominent family. His father was
Mayor of Jerusalem
The Mayor of the City of Jerusalem is head of the executive branch of the political system in Jerusalem. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within Jerusa ...
Faidi al-Alami, his sister was married to
Jamal al-Hussayni, and he was the uncle of
Serene Husseini Shahid
Serene Husseini Shahid ( ar, سيرين حُسيني شهيد, French: Sirine Husseini Shahid; 1920–2008) was born in Jerusalem as a member of the influential Husayni family. Her father was Jamal al-Husayni (himself a second cousin of the then ...
.
Alami was first taught at the school of the
American Colony
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
and at the French Ecole des Freres in
Jaffa. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he worked at the censorship office in
Damascus. Alami retained a positive view of the
Ottoman empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, recalling that the Arabs regarded the Turks as partners rather than oppressors, and above all, that Palestine was largely ruled by Palestinian officials. Alami claimed that "a greater degree of freedom and self-government existed in Palestine than in many Turkish provinces".
Later, he studied law at
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
and was admitted to the
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...
and graduated with honors.
Upon his return to Jerusalem, Alami worked for the legal department of the government of the
British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to:
* Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan.
* Mandatory P ...
and eventually became the private secretary of the
High Commissioner General
Arthur Grenfell Wauchope. In 1934, Alami participated in talks with the leaders of the
Jewish community in Palestine David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the nam ...
and
Moshe Sharett
Moshe Sharett ( he, משה שרת, born Moshe Chertok (Hebrew: ) 15 October 1894 – 7 July 1965) was a Russian-born Israeli politician who served as Israel's second prime minister from 1954 to 1955. A member of Mapai, Sharett's term was b ...
. Alami told Ben-Gurion that the most the Jews could expect would be a Jewish enclave around Tel Aviv in a Muslim Palestine. According to Ben-Gurion, he told Alami that Zionist efforts could provide significant help developing Palestine for all its inhabitants, but Alami replied that he would prefer to leave the land poor and desolate for another hundred years until the Arabs could develop it themselves.
Alami was ousted from his government position as legal adviser by the British authorities and went into exile in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, and later
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
. He played an important role in the
St. James Conference, negotiations with the British government in London in 1938–1939. He was a major contributor to the
White Paper of 1939
The White Paper of 1939Occasionally also known as the MacDonald White Paper (e.g. Caplan, 2015, p.117) after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary, who presided over its creation. was a policy paper issued by the British governmen ...
.
Former British diplomat G. Furlonge, who was the author of Alami's biography, described the political scene in Jerusalem after the
establishment of Israel in 1948: "The new
alestinianleaders were a set of young men of some education, all of them in the traumatic condition induced by the consciousness of having suffered a resounding defeat at the hand of an enemy whom they had heartily despised."
In an opinion article published in 1949, Alami gave his assessment of the "great national disaster" suffered by the Arabs of Palestine:
[Musa Alami, The Lesson of Palestine, ''Middle East Journal'', Vol. 3, 1949, p.373–405]
* "
e British were the prime causers of the disaster, and on them lies its responsibility. They were assisted by the Americans and the Russians. So much is clear. At all events, we found ourselves face to face with the Jews, and entered into battle with them to decide the future; and in spite of what the British, the Americans, and the Russians had done, it was still within our power to win the fight."
[
* "There were two phases to the battle of Palestine. ... In the first phase the fundamental source of our weakness was that we were unprepared even though not taken by surprise, while the Jews were fully prepared. ... These same weaknesses were the source of weakness in our defense in the second phase, that of the Arab armies: disunity, lack of a unified command, improvisation, diversity of plans, and on top of all a slackness and lack of seriousness in winning the war."][
* "The evacuation and homelessness of the Arabs was planned and intended by the Jews."][
* "In the social sphere, the incompetence of the Arab governments has revealed itself in the matter of the refugees. ... It is shameful that the Arab governments should prevent the Arab refugees from working in their countries and shut the doors in their faces and imprison them in camps."][
* "With the establishment of a Jewish foothold and base, the Arabs are faced with a new danger. The ambitions of the Jews are not limited to Palestine alone, but embrace other parts of the Arab world. ... The next step will be an attempt to take all of Palestine, and then they will proceed according to circumstances - circumstances which they themselves will attempt to create."][
]
Arab Development Society
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Alami lost most of his property in Jerusalem and the Galilee and went to live near Jericho, where he acquired a concession of of desert from the Jordanian government. In 1952, he founded the Arab Development Society (ADS) to help Jericho's refugees. After discovering water in the desert, he founded a large farm and school for refugee children. Alami raised funds in order to build villages for the refugees and launched an agricultural farm whose produce was exported.
According to Gilmour, who interviewed Alami in February 1979 in Jericho:
Both the farm and the school were highly successful until the Israeli invasion in 1967, when two-thirds of the land was laid waste and twenty-six of the twenty-seven wells destroyed. The Israeli army systematically smashed the irrigation system, the buildings and the well-boring machinery. Most of the land quickly reverted to desert.
Perhaps some of the destruction was unavoidable in wartime but what seems utterly callous and outrageous is the way Israeli authorities have behaved since 1967. A chunk of land was predictably wired off for "security reasons" and turned into a military camp. It is now deserted, ..the Israelis refused to allow him to buy the necessary equipment either to restore the damaged wells or to drill new ones. So he made some manual repairs to four of the least damaged wells and with these he was able to salvage a fraction of the land and keep the farm and the school functioning. ...he Israelis
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
are now telling him that he has too much water – though he has less than a fifth of what he used to have – and have warned him that they will be fixing a limit on his consumption and will be taking away the surplus for their own "projects" (i.e. their expanding settlement
Settlement may refer to:
*Human settlement, a community where people live
*Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building
* Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction
*Settlement (fin ...
s near Jericho).
... lamilaughs at President Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...
's obsession with human rights because he knows they will never be observed in Palestine. "Liberty and justice are meaningless words for my people and my country. We have never known either." He waves towards his farm, a philanthropist's dream that was once brilliantly successful. "I gain no pleasure from this place now," he says, "I stay here out of duty. I know the Zionists
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
have been wanting to get rid of us for years. They want me to go and have told me so. They want to build a kibbutz here. But I have a duty to keep going, a duty to my people."
Death
Musa Alami died in Amman on 8 June 1984 as a result of circulatory collapse
Shock is the state of insufficient blood flow to the tissues of the body as a result of problems with the circulatory system. Initial symptoms of shock may include weakness, fast heart rate, fast breathing, sweating, anxiety, and increased thi ...
. His funeral took place in the Al-Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque (, ), also known as Jami' Al-Aqsa () or as the Qibli Mosque ( ar, المصلى القبلي, translit=al-Muṣallā al-Qiblī, label=none), and also is a congregational mosque located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is situate ...
. The Israel Defense Forces crossing on the eastern exit of Jericho, through which Palestinians traveling to Jordan via the Allenby Bridge
The Allenby Bridge (English name; he, גשר אלנבי ''Gesher Allenby''), known officially in Jordan as the King Hussein Bridge ( ar, جسر الملك حسين ''Jisr al-Malek Hussein''), and also called Al-Karameh Bridge by Palestinian Arab ...
pass, is named after him. The site of the farm which Alami built is still commonly known as "the Musa Alami farm".
References
Further reading
* Alami, Musa. ''The Lesson of Palestine,'' Middle East Journal
''The Middle East Journal'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Middle East Institute ( Washington, D.C.). It was established in 1947 and covers research on the modern Middle East, including political, economic, and socia ...
, Vol. 3, No. 4, October 1949, pp. 373–405.
* Gendzier, Irene L. (Ed.) ''A Middle East Reader'' Pegasus, 1969 (including: Musa Alami on Palestine)
* Furlonge, Geoffrey W., ''Palestine is My Country: The Story of Musa Alami'' (NYC, Praeger Publishers, 1969)
* Alami, Musa (Preface): ''The Future of Palestine'', (Hermon Books, Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, 1970)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alami, Musa
Palestinian politicians
Palestinian nationalists
Politicians from Jerusalem
Deaths from circulatory collapse
1897 births
1984 deaths