Khalidi, Husayn Fakhri Al-
KHALIDI, HUSAYN FAKHRI AL-
Palestinian political figure (1894–1962) from a Jerusalem notable family with a tradition of scholarship and public service. Educated as a medical doctor at Beirut and Istanbul, he served in the Ottoman army during World War I but left it to join the Arab Revolt. He served in the department of health of the Syrian government of Emir Faysal ibn Husayn al-Hashem until Faysal was expelled by the French. He held a similar post in the mandatory government of Palestine from 1921 to 1934. From 1934 to 1937 he was mayor of Jerusalem, the last mayor to be elected in the undivided city. In 1935 Khalidi founded a political party, the Reform Party (Hizb al-Islah). In 1936 he was a member of the Arab Higher Committee, formed to coordinate the activities of that spring's general strike (that evolved into the Palestine Arab Revolt [1936–1939]). In 1937 Khalidi was deported to the Seychelles Islands by the British for his political activities, although he was allowed to take part in the London Conference of 1939. In 1946 he joined the reconstituted Arab Higher Committee. After the Arab-Israel War (1948), the West Bank was annexed by Jordan, and Khalidi served in the Jordanian government. He was foreign minister in 1953 and 1955, and very briefly prime minister in 1957. Afterward he retired to Jericho where he wrote commentary for a Jerusalem newspaper and also wrote two books, The Arab Exodus (al-Khuruj al-Arabi) and an unpublished autobiography.
SEE ALSO Arab Higher Committee;Arab-Israel War (1948);West Bank.