In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 105, 30 October 1937, Page 21

In the Public Eye

Behind the present Arab disorders in Palestine is the powerful/ but now somewhat elusive, figure of Haj Amin Eff El Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, chairman of the Arab Higher Committee, and, until eeprived of the office a few weeks ago by me Sritish Administration, President of the Supreme Moslem Council. Haj Amin has now left Palestine, and his. movements and intentions are shrouded to some degree in mystery. With his departure, however, there can no longer be criticism of the Palestine Administration,,for its failure to give effect to the plain hints of the Royal Commission on ■ Palestine about the liquidation of his influence. The Mufti of Jerusalem ; 4yas described by the Royal Commission as the "third Government"' of Palestine. Notwithstanding his subversive activities,.the Grand Mufti was, until a few weeks_ ago, still consulted by the High Commissioner. He was still able to control the funds of the Supreme Moslem .Council: and, to direct the propaganda; organisation which was perfected, during last, year's strike. A Special correspoident of "The Times," who visited Palestine in July last, considered that these facts had had a paralysing effect on Arab opinion in Palestine. Now, at last, he has gone; and will, presumably, in future direct the Arab activities from outside the territories of Palestine. I A man of about 45, Haj Amin was hardly heard of before 1920 when his Press articles and speeches brought him into the public eye. Before the Great War, he was an officer in the Turkish Army. Later, he had a mirior "intelligence—or secret service— post. ; ■ _ In 1920, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, in absentia, for an inflammatory speech at the time of the Jerusalem-riots. ■ During that year, however, the military regime was superseded by a civil • administration, with Sir Hetbert Samuel as High Commissioner. Sir Herbert Samuel was bent on conciliation. Haj Amin benefited by an .amnesty. He returned to Palestine, from which he had fled, and shortly afterwards was appointed Mufti of Jerusalem. ;■ Why was he ever appointed to the Post? Arab internal affairs in Palestine have, been largely dominated and influenced by the rivalry between the members of the Husseini and the Nashashibi factions, though both factions have been united in hostility to the Jews. The most important posts in the Palestinian Arab world under the Turks were the Mayor of, Jerusalem and thi Mufti; and both had been held by the Husseini faction. The , Mayor was Musa Kazem Pasha El Husseini, and a cousin of his, Kamel Eff El Husseini, C.M.G., was the Mufti. The Mayor had been dismissed by the British military authorities, and Ragheb Bey Nashashibi had been installed as Mayor. There was, there-; fore, a Nashashibi as Mayor, and a Husseini as Mufti. The Mufti died in 1921, and the problem of choosing his successor was very difficult. The Administration had recourse to the Turkish system under which a certain number of Moslem leaders chose a panel of three names from which the Government selected a candidate. Haj Amin was a half-brother of the late Mufti. He had been on a pilgrimage, and had also studied at the Azhar University in Cairo, where he had received a Moslem theological training with a view to representing the Husseini family in the post. The poyal Commission stated that competent authorities had informed it that Haj Amin was the only man in Palestine at the time having the' neclessary 'qualifications for the post. Other less generous-minded observers, however declare that the Mufti is neither learned nor pious. When he found'that he was in the running for the post of Mufti, they state, he ,went for a few months to the Azhar. University at Cairo, but never obtained a diploma. Nevertheless, he grew a beard, wound a white cloth (Ramami) round his'tarboosh, and. developed .all the outward signs of being a holy man. At any rate, after an attempt by the Nashashibi faction to capture the post, he was appointed Grand Mufti in 1922. An election was held in the same year for the Supreme Moslem Council, i which controls the public and private endowments for Moslems; and Haj Amin, became its president. Since 1922, Haj Amin has combined the two_ offices. But there'has been: yet a third office. During the disorders j last year, it was decided to establish a Supreme Arab Committee „ (subsequently styled the Arab Higher Committee) to control Arab national activities during, the emergency. , Haj Amin, the Mufti, became its president. Thus,' politics and religion became so intermingled in the person of Haj Amin that it was' Impossible to say where one began and the other left off. Haj Amin has great personal ambitions and is said to have visions of becoming Caliph. Until his deposition, he controlled personally great funds. These funds represent political and religious influence. They can ensure the maintenance in the mosques of any particular political gospel the leaders may wish to disseminate. "Outside the mosques," it has bopn said, "it puts who control the fund into a position akin. to that in which Lawrence found himself in organising the Arab guerrillas during .iUlenby's campaign." No wonder Haj Amin has been described as the "third Government" of Palestine. Lord Rayleigh. Lord Rayleigh, who has been nominated president of the British Association for 1938, is a scientist by heredity and by profession. His father, the third baron, was a Senior Wrangler, Smith'* , Prizeman, Cavendish Professor oif Physics, president of the Royal Society, and of the British Association in 1884 when the meeting .was held at Montreal, the first overseas meeting. His mother, a sister of the late Lord Balfour, though not a scientist in the technical sense,: lived and moved in an atmosphere charged with scientific discussions. Lord Rayleigh is one of the few distinguished scientists educated at ftoft and one of the many educated at

An active member of the Non-Inter-vention Committee in London is M. Ivan Michaelovitch Maisky, Russia's representative on the body which is making a final attempt to regulate the international approach to the Spanish war. For M. Maisky is indicter-in-chief of the Fascist nations and as representative of a Government which has been publicly abused by them he doe? not hesitate to say a great deal of what he thinks. M. Maisky is a member of a group of Russians which has become perceptibly smaller in the last year— the old revolutionaries. He was born in 1884 and joined the revolutionary movement at the age of 15, he was frequently arrested, and twice sent to Siberia, and at last he was driven abroad. He lived for many years in Germany and England, gaining training for his present post as a diplomatist i by the contacts of that period. He is an intelligent man, was educated at the Universities of St. Petersburg and Munich, and took up the trade of a journalist. After the revolution, in which he sided with the Whites, but recanted, he headed the expedition which explored Mongolia in 1919-20, and in 1921 he was appointed President of the" State Planning Commission of Siberia. Later he-was director of-, the Press Department of the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, holding this post from 1922 to 1923, and from there he naturally moved into , a post as Counsellor of Embassy in London in 1925. Two years later he was sent to Tokio, and 'in 1929 became Minister to Finland*. ' He. remained there until 1932, arid in'the following year became Ambassador ito Britain, and. in. 1935 he was j. appointed to' the. Soviet, Central Executive ; Committee. He has] published various works on Mongolia, on Soviet foreign, policy,: on the trade union movement; and on the proletariat and.iiterat.*jve,,_ 1 Mr. Louis B. Mayer. Mr. Louis B. Mayer, vice-president -and production chief of, Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer. has been invested , with the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honour. He spent an hour at the Elysee and was a guest at an official ban,quet. ■ , • The honour paid 5 to Mr. Mayer is one of many signs that the French are more film-minded than the British. ' .As far back at 1918 a knighthood was conferred on-Sir William Jury, but that was mainly for war work. Since then few honours have been bestowed on representatives of what is admittedly one' of the, most important industries in the country. _ If decorations were awarded in America for . political services, Mr. Mayer would undoubtedly have received one from Californian Republicans in 1934. He then achieved the distinction of being the first man to decide an election by the art of the camera. ■ When Mr. Upton Sinclair, the novelist, was running for the Governorship of California in 1934, the film industry was in a panic. His victory, which seemed probable, would have meant drastic taxes, on cinema profits. rescue. His newsreel photographers travelled all over California, conducting camera interviews asking voters whether they would support Mr. Sinclair or Mr. Merriam, the Republican candidate. The newsreels proved the best short comedies since Chaplin. The proMerriam voters were uniformly depicted as ordinary business men or labourers and intelligent-looking girls. Mr. Sinclair's supporters were, however, shabby, stammering asthmatics who proclaimed they would vote for Sinclair to get easy jobs and soft money. Their appearance provoked roars of laughter Wherever the films were shown, and the typical film-goer voted for Merriam to show he was not an imbecile. Mr. Edward Sltackleton. Mr. Edward Shackleton, iwhose engagement to Miss Betty Marguerite Homan was recently announced, is a son of the late Sir Ernest Shackleton, the famous Arctic and Antarctic explorer. Mr. Shackleton takes after his jfather. While he was still up at Ox- | ford he went with a University party to Borneo for some months. Head • hunters he found "quite easy to get on with." The Borneo brand of wasps, however,' proved less pleasant .com-j panions. His , last exploration was of Ellesmere Land in the Arctic -in 1934-35, again with a University expedition. The expedition planted the British flag on a hitherto unmapped 9000 ft range. This flag ha# been presented to them by the King, then Duke of York. Miss Homan's father was an' Elder Brother of Trinity House, Sir Ernest Shackleton: was a Younger Brother. Generally, speaking the Elder Brethren constitute the board of Trinity House and run its activities. Famous statesmen and public figures are made Elder Brethren. They get a resplendent uniform. Lord Baldwin wore his at the Coronation. Younger Brethren have no uniform, no liabilities, and no privileges—except for. an annual dinner given to them at Trinity House. They are drawn from the ranks of captains of the Merchant Navy and distinguished naval officers. They number about 300. To be a Younger Brother is a certificate of fine seamanship and personal integrity of a high order.