The Army of the Holy War or Holy War Army (Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas) was a force of Palestinian irregulars in the 1947-48 Palestinian civil war. Historians described this as the "personal" army of the Husayni family.
Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni arrived in the Jerusalem sector in December 1947 with about a hundred men. He established his headquarters at Bir Zeit and started to recruit volunteers to organise the siege of Jerusalem in attacking the Jewish convoys to the city. With a thousand men, Hasan Salama took responsibility of the operations in the Lydda and Ramle sectors, at the entry of the Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem road.
After the death of Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni on April 8, 1948, Haj Amin al-Husayni gave the commandership to Emil Ghuri
When the All-Palestine Government was formed on 22 September 1948, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, it revived the Holy War Army, with the declared aim of "liberating Palestine." However, the Government had no money of its own, and operated only under the supervision of Egypt, and was generally ineffective. On 3 October 1948, Jordan gave an order to the Arab Legion to surround, and forcibly disarm, various units of the Holy War Army.
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