Mufti Rejects British High Commissioner Wauchope’s Overture for a Legislative Council for Palestine Self-Government

Born in 1874, Arthur Grenfell Wauchope becomes Palestine’s High Commissioner in 1931. He is considered fair by both Jews and Arabs and becomes a proponent of applying a measure of self-government through a legislative council in early 1936. The British invite Arab representatives to London to discuss the proposal. Rather than go the route of a Legislative Council to obtain their objectives, the Mufti and others in the Arab elite organize the general strike, and on May 5, 1936 refuse to attend the London conference, despite “a strong section of the population” wanting self-rule. Wauchope leaves Palestine in 1938 in the midst of the Arab violence and uncertainty of Palestine’s political future.