On 17 July 1940, Feisal Abdul Qader al Husseini was born in Baghdad while his father was held behind the bars by the Iraqi authorities. Abdul Qader was released after King Abdul ‘Aziz Al Su’oud expressed willingness to receive him as a political refugee. Accordingly, Abdul Qader al Husseini and his family left for Saudi Arabia. During their stay in Saudi Arabia, Feisal learned to read and write from his father.
Feisal moved to Cairo with his father. He was there when his father was martyred. Feisal read the news on his father’s death in local newspapers. The news exerted a traumatic effect to the then eight-year-old Feisal.
Feisal al Husseini attended schools in Cairo and Aleppo. While he was pursuing his higher education in Cairo, Al Husseini met with Yasser Arafat. In 1957, he joined the Arab Nationalists Movement. In 1959, he took part in establishing the Palestinian Students’ Association.
Towards 1966, Al Husseini was employed at the Popular Guidance Section of the PLO Office in Jerusalem.
Al Husseini studied engineering at the Military Academy in Aleppo and obtained a degree in military sciences in 1966.
In early 1967, Al Husseini joined the Palestinian Liberation Army forces based in Syria. Shortly after Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, he joined the Fatah movement.
Following the June 1967 war, Al Husseini moved to Jerusalem and led the PLO political activity. In October 1967, he was detained and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one year on charges of possessing weapons. After he had been released, he worked as an x-ray technician at the Al Makassed Islamic Charitable Society Hospital in Jerusalem.
In 1979, Al Husseini established the Arab Studies Association (The Orient House) in the city of Jerusalem.
Due to his prominent role in leading the Palestinian national struggle during the first Intifada, the Israeli occupying authorities prosecuted Al Husseini and jailed him for a term of two years.
Succeeding Haydar Abdul Shafi, Al Husseini headed the Palestinian delegation to the Washington peace talks in 1993.
Following the Oslo Agreements, Israel refused that Al Husseini join the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, allegedly because he lived in Jerusalem and carried a Jerusalemite ID.
In 1996, Al Husseini was appointed Manager of the PLO Jerusalem File. In this capacity, he attended meetings of the Palestinian Council of Ministers.
Al Husseini was targeted in two assassination attempts. He led innumerable demonstrations in protest against settlement activity in Jerusalem. As he mastered Hebrew, Al Husseini used to have interviews on the Israel’s TV and radio, explaining the Palestinian position and viewpoint of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
On 31 May 2001, Al Husseini died in Kuwait while he was holding talks to end disputes between the Palestinian Authority and Government of Kuwait, resulting from the 1990 Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. His dead body was transported to Jerusalem. 20,000 Jerusalemites marched in Al Husseini’s solemn funeral procession. He was buried on the yard of the Al Aqsa Mosque compound beside his father and grandfather.
