CALL TO THE COUNCIL OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS

THE R I B A COUNCIL SHOULD FORTHWITH RESCIND ITS CALL 
- FOR SUSPENSION OF ISRAEL'S UNION OF ARCHITECTS - 
 INTENDED FOR THE 'AGENDA'  AT NEXT MONTH'S U I A 2014 CONVENTION 
 DURBAN SOUTH AFRICA 
[of all places]

Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestina

E.T. Richmond and Haji Amin al-Husseini
Ernest Tatham Richmond (1874-1955) FRIBA is listed in ‘Who’s Who in Architecture 1914’ and ‘Directory of British Architects 1834-1914’. From ‘Who’s Who’ one learns of Richmond’s imperial ‘family tree’ and successful marriage to Muriel, daughter of Henry Lubbock (Robarts Lubbock&Co.). Educated at Clifton, R.A. Schools and the Architectural Association, Richmond commenced independent practice in Cairo, Egypt (1896). Appointed to the post of Assistant Architect to the ‘Comite pour la Conservation des Monuments de l’Art Arabe (1896); in which capacity he took part in numerous works connected with the preservation of the monuments of Islamic art in Cairo; such as the mosques of El Mardani, Sali Talay, Sultan Hassan etc. In 1900 appointed by the British War Office to the post of Surveyor to the Headquarters of the British Army of Occupation in Cairo. Designed and erected a large block of quarters for married soldiers in the city as well as quarters and houses for Officers and men. Subsequently appointed to the Public Works Department of the Egyptian Government, where, in the capacity of architect and subsequently as Director-General of the Department of Towns and State Buildings, he designed and supervised Public offices, Secondary Schools, Military Barracks, Dwelling houses, Cottages and Police Checkpoints. Returned to England in October 1911; where he continued a distinguished professional career.

However, in Paul Johnson’s epic ‘A History of the Jews’ (Weidenfeld&Nicolson 1987) one discovers a less sympathetic aspect of Richmond’s activities and character! In Part Six: Holocaust (pages 438-439) Johnson records the following facts, apropos events in the Land of Israel/Palestina, circa 1921:

“The procedure for creating a new Mufti (in Jerusalem) was for a local electoral college of pious Arab Muslims to choose three candidates and for the Mandatory Government to confirm one of them. The passionately anti-British and notorious rioter, Haji Amin al-Husseini *(then in his twenties) was qualified neither by age nor by learning for the post. He had a violent, lifelong hatred for the Jews! In addition to his ten-year sentence he was down on the police files as a dangerous agitator. The electoral college was mainly moderate and, not surprisingly, Haji Amin came bottom of the poll. Sheikh Hassan al-Din , a moderate and learned man was chosen and the High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel, was glad to confirm him.

Then the al-Husseini clan – who had led the 1920 riots – began a vicious campaign of denigration against Hassan al-Din: “the accursed traitors, have combined with the Jews (then as now a majority in the Holy city) to have one of their party appointed Mufti”!

"Unfortunately, writes Johnson, the British governing staff contained a former Architect named, Ernest T. Richmond (assistant to Sir Ronald Storrs) who acted as adviser to the High Commissioner on Islamic affairs!
Richmond was a passionate ‘anti-Zionist’, whom the Chief Secretary, Sir Gilbert Claydon, termed the ‘counterpart of the Zionist organization’. ‘He is a declared enemy of both the Zionist policy and the Jewish policy of His Majesty’s Government'; attested to by -

a Colonial Office secret minute; ‘Government…would gain very greatly by excluding from its Secretariat so very a partisan a figure as Mr. Richmond'!

“It was Richmond who ‘persuaded’ the moderate Sheikh to stand down and then convinced High Commissioner Samuel that, in light of the agitation, it would be a friendly gesture towards the Arabs to let Haji Amin al-Husseini become Grand Mufti. Herbert Samuel saw the young man on 11 April 1921 and accepted assurances that the influence of his clan and himself would be devoted to tranquility”!

Three weeks later there were riots in Jaffa an elsewhere with 43 Jews massacred

Haji Amin al-Husseini turned the Supreme Moslem Council he controlled into a tyrannical instrument of terror and encouraged the local Arabs to make contact with their neighbors and thereby promote both the pan-Arab and Islamist movements.
“Haji Amin al-Husseini was a soft spoken killer and organizer of killers”

concludes Paul Johnson.

In 'Jihad and Jew Hatred : Islamism, Nazism : Roots of 9/11'

[ http://www.telospress.com/ ] Matthias Kunzell, records 'the role of the Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini in dissemination of the hate-filled tenets of the Moslem Brotherhood throughout the Arabo-Islamic World: especially. during his Berlin sojourn [1941-1945] where he became Adolf Hitler's Iman on solution of the 'Jewish Question' as well as Messenger in-Chief of the Nazi doctrine to Dar al-Islam via the D.N.B. Broadcasting transmitter facility at Zessen'!

Ernest Tatham Richmond’s role as Chief Architect of the appointment of
the infamous Haji Amin al-Husseini as Grand Mufti has been established
hence his co-responsibility for subsequent murder of Jews is manifest
Accordingly it behooves the Past and Present Royal Institute of British Architects Presidents
Jack Pringle & Sunand Prasad as well as Lord Richard Rogers to reassess the wisdom of rendering their official support to the relentless anti-Israel boycott campaign waged by

ARCHITECTS & PLANNERS for JUSTICE in PALESTINE (APJP)Should APJP ever consider nominating a Patron then
ERNEST TATHAM RICHMOND’S
posthumous claim to such Patronage would be indisputable

ERNEST T RICHMOND'S PROMOTION OF JEW HATER HAJ AMIN al-HUSSEINI
  DEMANDS LONG OVERDUE BIOGRAPHICAL ADDENDA TO THE
 'DIRECTORY' & 'WHOSE WHO'    

*Note*
‘The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism’-Adolf Hitler&Haji Amin al-Husseini-
(Charles A. Morse 2003 http://www.iuniverse.com/ )