Palestinian nationalism has always suffered from a crushing power imbalance in favor of the Zionist movement, and then of the State of Israel. However, it is worth questioning the responsibility of certain Palestinian leaders in two historic disasters: the Nakba ("catastrophe") of 1948, with its exodus of more than half the Arab population of Palestine, and the current catastrophe in the devastated Gaza Strip.

In both cases, Palestinian movements openly fighting other Palestinian factions put partisan interests ahead of the national cause they claimed to defend. In both cases, they committed crimes, but also strategic errors: Haj Amin Al-Husseini by allying himself with Nazism in 1941, and Hamas by carrying out the bloodshed of October 7, 2023.

The United Kingdom pledged in 1917 to support "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" and received a mandate from the League of Nations to administer the formerly Ottoman territory three years later. The Arab population, which made up 90% of the inhabitants, categorically opposed what they saw as a dispossession. The British authorities sidestepped this obstacle in 1921, assigning the newly created position of Grand Mufti of Jerusalem to Husseini.

Excessive one-upmanship

The move succeeded in dividing Palestinian nationalism, first by reducing it to its Islamic component, then by pitting Husseini's supporters against those of Nashashibi, their traditional rivals. Such maneuvers helped crush the 1936-1939 Arab revolt. Exiled in 1937, Husseini allied himself with Adolf Hitler four years later, even as the majority of the Palestinian population supported the democratic powers against the Axis.

A vengeful Husseini reclaimed leadership of Palestinian nationalism in 1945, eclipsing his rivals through excessive one-upmanship. Not only did he tarnish his people's cause with his personal disgrace, but he also refused, in 1947, the plan to partition Palestine between Jewish and Arab states, precipitating a disastrous conflict for the Palestinian population.

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