Mandatory Palestine Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Palestinian Arab leadership and national aspirations==== {{main|Palestinian Nationalism|Arab nationalism}} [[File:Palestine 1930.jpg|thumb|upright|A 1930 protest in [[Jerusalem]] against the British Mandate by Arab women. The sign reads "No dialogue, no negotiations until termination of the Mandate."]] Under the British Mandate, the office of "Mufti of Jerusalem", traditionally limited in authority and geographical scope, was refashioned into that of "Grand Mufti of Palestine". Furthermore, a Supreme Muslim Council (SMC) was established and given various duties, such as the administration of [[waqf|religious endowments]] and the appointment of [[qadi|religious judges]] and local muftis. In Ottoman times, these duties had been fulfilled by the Imperial bureaucracy in [[Constantinople]] ([[Istanbul]]).{{sfn|Khalidi|2006|p=63}} In dealings with the Palestinian Arabs, the British negotiated with the elite rather than the middle or lower classes.{{sfn|Khalidi|2006|p=52}} They chose [[Hajj Amin al-Husseini]] to become Grand Mufti, although he was young and had received the fewest votes from Jerusalem's Islamic leaders.{{sfn|Khalidi|2006|pp=56β57}} One of the mufti's rivals, [[Raghib al-Nashashibi|Raghib Bey al-Nashashibi]], had already been appointed [[Mayor of Jerusalem]] in 1920, replacing [[Musa al-Husseini|Musa Kazim]], whom the British removed after the [[1920 Palestine riots|Nabi Musa riots of 1920]],{{sfnm|Khalidi|2006|1pp=63, 69|Segev|2000|2pp=127β144}} during which he exhorted the crowd to give their blood for Palestine.{{sfn|Morris|2001|p=112}} During the entire Mandate period, but especially during the latter half, the rivalry between the mufti and al-Nashashibi dominated Palestinian politics. Khalidi ascribes the failure of the Palestinian leaders to enroll mass support to the fact that they had been part of the ruling elite and accustomed to their commands being obeyed; thus, the idea of mobilising the masses was unknown to them.{{sfn|Khalidi|2006|p=81}} On the Husseini-Nashashibi rivalry, an editorial in the Arabic-language ''[[Falastin]]'' newspaper in the 1920s commented:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nlis/en/jrayed/Pages/Filastin.aspx|title=Filastin|work=National Library of Israel|access-date=4 March 2019}}</ref> {{blockquote|The spirit of factionalism has penetrated most levels of society; one can see it among journalists, trainees, and the rank and file. If you ask anyone: who does he support? He will reply with pride, Husseini or Nashasibi, or ... he will start to pour out his wrath against the opposing camp in a most repulsive manner.}} There had already been rioting and attacks on and massacres of Jews in [[Jaffa riots|1921]] and [[1929 Palestine riots|1929]]. During the 1930s, Palestinian Arab popular discontent with Jewish immigration grew. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, several factions of Palestinian society, especially from the younger generation, became impatient with the internecine divisions and ineffectiveness of the Palestinian elite and engaged in grass-roots anti-British and anti-Zionist activism, organised by groups such as the [[Young Men's Muslim Association]]. There was also support for the radical nationalist [[Independence Party (Palestine)|Independence Party]] (''Hizb al-Istiqlal''), which called for a boycott of the British in the manner of the [[Indian Independence Movement#Salt March and civil disobedience|Indian Congress Party]]. Some took to the hills to [[Black Hand (Palestine)|fight the British and the Jews]]. Most of these initiatives were contained and defeated by notables in the pay of the Mandatory Administration, particularly the mufti and his cousin [[Jamal al-Husseini]]. A six-month general strike in 1936 marked the start of the great Arab Revolt.{{sfn|Khalidi|2006|pp=87β90}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page