October 25, 1941 The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al Hasanji (Husseini), Yasser Arafat, Mahmud Abbas

“When World War II broke out in 1939, and I felt the increased British pressure on the French authorities in Lebanon to hand me over, I tried to take refuge in Iraq and then in Persia. The British military authorities tried to capture me there and I found myself compelled to seek refuge in Turkey; but Turkey, through diplomatic arrangement with Great Britain, refused my demand. Therefore, finding no Moslem or Arab country in which to take refuge, I had to go to Europe (e.g. Germany), AND FURTHERE MORE AS THERE EXIST NO ENMITY BETWEEN US [ARABS] AND GERMANY, I COULD SEE NO REASON TO PREVENT MY TAKING REFUGE THERE.”

Source: The Struggle for Palestine by J. C. Hurewitz, WW Norton and Company Inc. NY 1950, p. 147