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Rashid Ismail Khalidi (born 1950), an American historian of the Middle East, is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, and director of the Middle East Institute of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.

Family, education and career

Khalidi was born in New York. Khalidi is the son of Ismail Khalidi and the nephew of Husayin al-Khalidi. He is the father of Ismail Khalidi (writer). He grew up in New York City where his father, a Saudi citizen of Palestinian origins who was born in Jerusalem, worked for the United Nations. Khalidi's mother, a Lebanese-American Christian, was an interior decorator. Khalidi attended the United Nations International School.

In 1970, Khalidi received a B.A. from Yale University, where he was a member of Wolf's Head Society. He then received a D. Phil. from Oxford University in 1974. Between 1976 and 1983, Khalidi “was teaching full time as an Assistant Professor in the Political Studies and Public Administration Dept. at the American University of Beirut, published two books and several articles, and also was a research fellow at the independent Institute for Palestine Studies." He has also taught at the Lebanese University.

Returning to America, Khalidi spent two years teaching at Columbia University before joining the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1987 where he spent eight years as a professor and director of both the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Center for International Studies at the University of Chicago. During the Gulf War, while teaching at Chicago, Khalidi “emerged “as one of the most influential commentators from within Middle Eastern Studies.” In 2003 he joined the faculty of Columbia University. He has also taught at Georgetown University.

Khalidi is married to Mona Khalidi, who is the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and the Assistant Director of Graduate Studies of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is a member of the National Advisory Committee of the U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East, which describes itself as "a national organization of Jews, Christians and Muslims dedicated to dialogue, education and advocacy for peace based on the deepest teachings of the three religious traditions."

He is member of the Board of Sponsors of The Palestine–Israel Journal, a publication founded by Ziad AbuZayyad and Victor Cygielman, prominent Palestinian and Israeli journalists.

He is founding trustee of The Center for Palestine Research and Studies.

Academic work

Khalidi’s research covers primarily the history of the modern Middle East. He focuses on the countries of the southern and eastern Mediterranean, with an eye to the emergence of various national identities and the role played by external powers in their development. He also researches the impact of the press on forming new senses of community, the role of education in the construction of political identity, and in the way narratives have developed over the past centuries in the region. Michael C. Hudson, director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown, describes Khalidi as "preeminent in his field." He served as President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America in 1994. Khalidi is currently editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies.

Much of Khalidi's scholarly work in the 1990s focused on the historical construction of nationalism in the Arab world. Drawing on the work of theorist Benedict Anderson who described nations as "imagined communities", he does not posit primordial national identities, but clearly argues that these nations have legitimacy and rights. In Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (1997), he places the emergence of Palestinian national identity in the context of Ottoman and British colonialism as well as the early Zionist effort in the Levant. This book won the Middle East Studies Association’s Albert Hourani Prize as best book of 1997. His dating of Palestinian national emergence to the early 20th century and his tracing of its contours provide a rejoinder to Israeli nationalist claims that Palestinians either do not exist, or had no collective claims prior to the 1948 creation of Israel. Nevertheless, Khalidi is also careful to focus on the late development, failings and internal divisions within the various elements of the Palestinian nationalist movement as well.

In Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East (2004), Khalidi takes readers on a historical tour of Western intervention in the Middle East, and argues that these interventions continue to have a colonialist nature that is both morally unacceptable and likely to backfire.

Palestinian Identity

Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (1997), is probably Khalidi's most influential book, and certainly the most widely cited. In Palestinian Identity, Khalidi demonstrates that a Palestinian national consciousness had it origins near the beginning of the twentieth century. This is not, however, the kind of simplistic reading that dates a nation's origin to a point in time. Rather, Khalidi describes the Arab population of British Mandatory Palestine as having "overlapping identities," with some or many expressing loyalties to villages, regions, a projected nation of Palestine, an alternative of inclusion in a Greater Syria, an Arab national project, as well as to Islam. Nevertheless, his book was the first to demonstrate substantive Palestinian nationalism in the early Mandatory period. As Khalidi writes, "Local patriotism could not yet be described as nation-state nationalism."

Khalidi also demonstrates the active oppositon of the Arab press to Zionism in the 1880's.

Public life

Khalidi has written dozens of scholarly articles on Middle East history and politics, as well as op-ed pieces in many U.S. newspapers. He has also been a guest on numerous radio and TV shows including All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, Morning Edition, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Charlie Rose, and Nightline, and has appeared on the BBC, the CBC, France Inter and the Voice of America. He served as president of the American Committee on Jerusalem, now known as the American Task Force on Palestine.

Relations with PLO

Khalidi has at different stages of his career been actively involved in the politics of the Palestinian cause. He was involved in politics in Beirut in the 1970's and was cited in the media during this period as an official of or spokesman for the Palestinian News Service, Wafa, or directly with the Palestinian Liberation Organization. In some of these interviews, Khalidi spoke on behalf of the PLO using the pronoun “we.” In 2004 Khalidi dismissed the allegation that he served as a PLO spokesman, saying, "I often spoke to journalists in Beirut, who usually cited me without attribution as a well-informed Palestinian source. If some misidentified me at the time, I am not aware of it.” Other academics and journalists active at that time maintain that Khalidi was affiliated with the PLO.

From 1991 to 1993, Khalidi was a member of the Palestinian delegation to negotiations between Palestinians, Israel and the United States in Madrid and in Washington. According to Khalidi, as his academic career made increasing demands on his time, his direct involvement in Palestinian politics has diminished. "I am a political being," he said in a recent speech, but "I can't do all those things and be involved in politics." The issue was raised in the 2008 United States presidential election due to an acknowledged friendship with the Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

Views on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Khalidi has written that the establishment of the state of Israel resulted in "the uprooting of the world's oldest and most secure Jewish communities, which had found in the Arab lands a tolerance that, albeit imperfect, was nonexistent in the often genocidal, Jew-hating Christian West." Regarding the proposed two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Khalidi has written that "the now universally applauded two-state solution faces the juggernaut of Israel's actions in the occupied territories over more than forty years, actions that have been expressly designed to make its realization in any meaningful form impossible." However, Khalidi also noted that "there are also flaws in the alternatives, grouped under the rubric of the one-state solution".

Regarding American support for Israel, Khalidi stated in an interview that "every other single place on the face of the earth is in support of the Palestinians, yet all of them together aren't a hill of beans compared to the United States and Israel, because the United States and Israel can basically do anything they please. They are the world superpower, they are the regional superpower."

A New York Sun editorial criticized Khalidi for stating that there is a legal right under international law for Palestinians to resist Israeli occupation. For example, in a speech given to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Khalidi said that “illing civilians is a war crime. It’s a violation of international law. They are not soldiers. They’re civilians, they’re unarmed. The ones who are armed, the ones who are soldiers, the ones who are in occupation, that's different. That's resistance.” The Sun editorial argued that by failing to distinguish between Palestinian combatants and noncombatants, Khalidi implies that all Palestinians have this right to resist, which it argued was incorrect under international law. In an interview discussing this editorial, Khalidi objected to this characterization as incorrect and taken out of the context of his statements on international law.

Khalidi has described discussions of Arab restitution for property confiscated from Jewish refugees forced to flee Middle Eastern and North African countries after the creation of Israel as “insidious”, "because the advocates of Jewish refugees are not working to get those legitimate assets back but are in fact trying to cancel out the debt of Israel toward Palestinian refugees."

Khalidi opposes the Iraq War and has said that “we owe reparations to the Iraqi people.”

NYC teacher training program

In 2005 Khalidi's participation in a New York City teacher training program was ended by the city's Schools Chancellor. The Chancellor, Joel I. Klein, issued a statement that “Considering his past statements, Rashid Khalidi should not have been included in a program that provided professional development for teachers and he won't be participating in the future.” Following the decision, Columbia University president Lee Bollinger spoke out on Khalidi's behalf, writing: "The department's decision to dismiss Professor Khalidi from the program was wrong and violates First Amendment principles... The decision was based solely on his purported political views and was made without any consultation and apparently without any review of the facts."

2008 Presidential campaign

Consequent to publication by the Los Angeles Times of an article about Obama's attendance at a 2003 farewell dinner for Khalidi, their relationship became a minor issue in the campaign. Some opponents of Barack Obama claimed that the relationship between Obama and Khalidi was evidence that Obama would not maintain a pro-Israel foreign policy if elected. Obama called his own commitment to Israel "unshakeable."Opponents of Republican candidate John McCain pointed out that he had served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI) during the 1990s which provided grants worth $500,000 to the Center for Palestine Research and Studies for the purpose of polling the views of the Palestinian people. The Center was co-founded by Khalidi.

Bibliography

• The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood, Beacon Press, 2006.
• Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East, Beacon Press, 2004.
• Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness, Columbia University Press, 1997.
• The Origins of Arab Nationalism (Co-editor), Columbia University Press, 1991.
• Under Siege: PLO Decision-making during the 1982 War. Columbia University Press, 1986.
• Palestine and the Gulf (Co-editor), Institute for Palestine Studies, 1982.
• British Policy towards Syria and Palestine, 1906-1914. Ithaca Press for St. Antony's College, 1980.

References

1. ^ ""Rashid Khalidi"". Middle East Institute of Columbia University. Retrieved 2006-08-29. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
2. ^ "ISMAIL KHALIDI, 52, U.N. OFFICIAL, DIES" (Link to fee-for-article from NYT Archives). The New York Times. September 6, 1968. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |curly= ignored (help)
3. ^ Santora, Marc (October 30, 2008). "Political Storm Finds a Columbia Professor". The New York Times. pp. A28. Retrieved 2008-12-02. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
4. McCarthy, Andrew C. (November 03, 2008). "In Obama's Hyde Park, It's All in the Family". National Review. Retrieved 2008-12-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
5. ^ "Rashid Khalidi". University of Chicago. Retrieved 2006-09-20.
6. 2006 Phelps Association Directory
7. Romirowsky, Asaf (July 8, 2004). "Arafat minion as professor". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2008-11-23. In reply to our questions, he wrote that between 1976 and 1983, "I was teaching full time as an Assistant Professor in the Political Studies and Public Administration Dept. at the American University of Beirut, published two books and several articles, and also was a research fellow at the independent Institute for Palestine Studies," and says he had no time for anything else. Mr. Khalidi dismisses the allegation that he served as a PLO spokesman, saying, "I often spoke to journalists in Beirut, who usually cited me without attribution as a well-informed Palestinian source. If some misidentified me at the time, I am not aware of it." {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
8. Wolf, Isaac (January 31, 2003). "Khalidi accepts chair offer from Columbia". The Chicago Maroon. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
9. Kramer, Martin, Ivory Towers on Sand, Washington, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2001, p. 65
10. "Mona Khalidi". SIPA Staff. Columbia University. 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
11. "Sourcewatch". Center for Media and Democracy. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
14. The Knowledge That Doesn't Equal Power, By Philip Kennicott. The Washington Post, 5/13/2004.
15. Albert Hourani Book Award Recipients, 1991-2005
16. The Great Syrian Revolt and the Rise of Arab Nationalism, Michael Provence, University of Texas Press, 2005, p. 158
17. Khalidi, Palestinian Identity. p. 32
18. Army of Shadows, Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism, 1917-1948, Hillel Cohen University of California Press, 2008, p. 275, n.2
19. Palestine: Liberation Deferred by Rashid Khalidi, The Nation, May 8, 2008 (retrieved on October 21, 2008
20. "The Crisis of our Times - Nationalism, Identity, and the Future of Israel-Palestine", Interview with Rashid Khalidi, North Coast Xpress, Spring 2001(retrieved on October 21, 2008.
21. ^ "Right of Resistance?". Editorial. New York Sun. March 14, 2005. Retrieved 2006-09-04. Cite error: The named reference "NYSunRoR" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
22. Note: The ADC transcript of Khalidi's speech has been edited, and has sections missing. Thus, it cannot be used for verification.
23. Perelman, Marc (April 10, 2008). "Study Estimates Assets of Arab Lands' Jews". The Forward. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
24. Kohlmann, Mary (March 12, 2007). "Experts Dissect Iraq Consequences". Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
25. ^ Purnick, Joyse (February 28, 2005). "Some Limits on Speech in Classrooms". Metro Matters. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
26. "The Klein Example". The New York Sun. February 18, 2005. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
27. ^ Wallsten, Peter (April 10, 2008). "Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Barack Obama". Politics. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-12-02. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
28. Obama on the Defensive Before Fla. Jewish Voters, ABC news, May 22, 2008.(retrieved on October 26, 2008.
29. • http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/28/mccain-funded-work-of-pal_n_138606.html
    • McCain rips L.A. Times on Obama video Chicago Tribune (with assistance from the Los Angeles Times), October 30, 2008
    • http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/30/fact-check-does-group-mccain-chairs-have-link-to-columbia-professor-khalidi/?eref=politicalflipper
    • A copy of the IRS filing for the IRI was published online showing the grant and IRI members."A copy of the IRS filing is provided (see grant #5180 on p. 14 and p. 17 for McCain chairmanship in" (PDF).

External links

• Middle East Institute, Columbia University
• Profile on Rashid Khalidi at the Institute for Middle East Understanding
• Video: Rashid Khalidi - Palestine: 40 Years of Occupation, 60 Years of Dispossession (June 23, 2007)
• Review of Rhashid Khalidi's Resurrecting Empire, Western Footprints, and America's Path in the Middle East at Logosjournal.com
• Review of The Iron Cage by Rashid Khalid at the Institute for Middle East Understanding

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