Muslim-Christian Associations

The membership was from the upper classes and they proved to be ineffective in halting the Zionist advances and failed to provide leadership for a public that was becoming increasingly concerned about the future.

[1] The Jaffa group was largely pro-British, partly because the citrus export industry needed to maintain good relations with the authorities.

[3] In November 1918, to mark the anniversary of Allenby's victory over the Turks, the Jaffa Association presented the governor with a statement expressing their confidence in British promises of self-government and self-determination.

[6] On 24 November 1918 the British military governor of Jerusalem, Ronald Storrs, warned the mayor, Musa Kazem al-Husseini, and other notables that membership of the Muslim-Christian Association was incompatible with an administrative or a political career.

[9] The British authorities allowed the Associations to hold a two-day general strike, 13–14 July 1920, protesting against the mandate and the behaviour of the army.

[10] Following the Nabi Musa riots the Jerusalem Association issued a statement, 11 November 1921, protesting the harsh sentences given to Arab demonstrators compared to those given to Jews arrested.

[12] In the autumn of 1923 the Jaffa association ceased to function after the municipality agreed to accept the Rutenburg Scheme which would supply the town with electricity but which was opposed by the national Congress.

In 1923 the chief secretary to the high commissioner, Colonel Wyndham Deedes, ordered investigations into some of the leaders of the Muslim National Associations.