Muhammad Hallaj (1932–2017) was a Palestinian scholar and writer on Palestinian affairs. He could not pursue his academic career in Palestine in the 1980s and settled in the US. He served as a member of the

Palestinian National Council The Palestinian National Council (PNC; ) is the legislative body - in Arabic, the ''Majlis'' - of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PNC is intended to serve as the parliament that represents all Palestinians inside and outside th ...

Early life and education

Hallaj was born in

Qalqilya Qalqilya or Qalqiliya () is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, which serves as the administrative center of the Qalqilya Governorate. The city had a population of 51,683 in 2017. Qalqilya is surrounded by the Israeli West Bank barrier, Israeli We ...

, Mandatory Palestine, in 1932. He attended a high school in

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

. Following the

Nakba The Nakba () is the ethnic cleansing; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; of Palestinian Arabs through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their s ...

the family left their hometown. He obtained his Ph.D. in political sciences from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in 1966.

Career and activities

Following his graduation Hallaj joined the

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Located in the city's Arlington (Jacksonville), Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonvill ...

, Florida, as a lecturer and taught there until 1970. Then he taught at the

University of Jordan The University of Jordan (), often abbreviated UJ or JU, is a public university located in Amman, Jordan. Founded in 1962, and it is the largest and oldest institution of higher education in Jordan. It is located in the capital Amman in the J ...

in Amman from 1970 to 1975. During his tenure Hallaj served as dean of social sciences. Next he joined

Birzeit University Birzeit University () is a public university in the West Bank, Palestine, registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs as a charitable organization. It is accredited by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Mini ...

on the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

in 1975 and became a full professor. He was appointed vice president of Birzeit University and then was named as the first director of the Council for Higher Education in the West Bank and Gaza. He taught at Birzeit University until 1981 when he went to the US for a study visit at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. After the end of his study visit in 1983 he returned to Birzeit University, but the Israeli authorities did not grant him a work permit. Therefore, he had to leave Palestine and settled in the US. Hallaj was the editor of a magazine entitled ''Palestine Perspectives'' between 1983 and 1991. He was the director of the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine from 1991 to 1994. He was made a member of the Palestinian National Council in 1991. He headed Palestinian delegation during the multilateral talks on refugees which had been initiated after the

Madrid Conference The Madrid Conference of 1991 was a peace conference, held from 30 October to 1 November 1991 in Madrid, hosted by Spain and co-sponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union. It was an attempt by the international community to revive the ...

in 1991. Hallaj was a board member of various Palestinian organizations such as the commissioners of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights.

Work

Hallaj published many articles on Palestinian affairs. He was among the contributors of the 1988 book entitled ''Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question'' edited by

Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American academic, literary critic, and political activist. As a professor of literature at Columbia University, he was among the founders of Postcolonialism, post-co ...

and

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...

Death

Hallaj died in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallaj, Muhammad 20th-century non-fiction writers 1932 births 2017 deaths Arab people in Mandatory Palestine Palestinian non-fiction writers University of Florida alumni Palestinian emigrants to Jordan People from Qalqilya Academic staff of Birzeit University Academic staff of the University of Jordan Jacksonville University faculty Members of the Palestinian National Council Palestinian political scientists