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Faisal Abdel Qader Al-Husseini was born in Baghdad on July 17, 1940. He finished his elementary and secondary education in Cairo. Later, he finished his secondary education in Cairo and received his B.A. in Military Science from the Military College in Syria in 1967.
He joined the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) in 1957 and later became active in Fateh Movement, the largest PLO faction. In the year that followed, he became active against occupation and was harassed by consecutive Israeli governments, who imposed travel bans on him, jailed him and put him under house arrest or administrative detention.
In 1979, he founded the Arab Studies Society, a research and data-collecting center in East Jerusalem, which is now located in a section of the Orient House, and was closed down, allegedly for anti-Israeli propaganda. After a coordinated international and local campaign, the Arab Studies Society was finally reopened in the spring of 1991.
Before the start of the Madrid Peace Conference in October 1991, Mr. Husseini led a Palestinian delegation to meet with the US Secretary of State, James Baker, to lay the grounds for the launching of the peace talks between the PLO and Israel. Mr. Husseini was named Head of the Palestinian Team to the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid, and despite the Israeli objections to his role in negotiations as a resident of Jerusalem, he became the central figure in the peace talks that opened the door for direct dialogue between the PLO and Israel.
Soon after, Mr. Husseini turned the Orient House from a guesthouse in East Jerusalem into the New Orient House, which became the headquarters of the Palestinian Delegation to the peace talks. The New Orient House has become a prominent center of Palestinian political, social and cultural activities.
Mr. Husseini was the PLO Executive Committee Member in Charge of Jerusalem Affairs. He was also member in Fateh Central Committee. He was also the Head of the Palestinian Team to the Multilateral Peace Talks and a member of the Palestinian Committee for Final Status Negotiations - Head of the Jerusalem Committee.
He was the highest-ranking Fateh official in Jerusalem and the West Bank and met with many world leaders, appeared in countless television interviews and wrote numerous articles and speeches. He was also the guest at many international conferences and gatherings on the issue of Palestine and Jerusalem. He received the American Peace Award and later the Gleitsman Foundation Award in 1999.
Mr. Husseini resided in Jerusalem. He is survived by his wife, Najat Husseini, one son, Abdul Qader, 25, and a daughter, Fadwa, 23. Both of his children are graduates of Birzeit University in Palestine.
Palestine Affairs Council