Rashid Khalidi
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Rashid Ismail Khalidi (; born 18 November 1948) is a Palestinian-American historian of the Middle East and the
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 ...
Professor
Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...
of Modern Arab Studies at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. He served as editor of the '' Journal of Palestine Studies'' from 2002 until 2020, when he became co-editor with Sherene Seikaly. He has authored a number of books, including '' The Hundred Years' War on Palestine'' and ''Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness''; has served as president of the Middle East Studies Association; and has taught at the Lebanese University, the
American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...
,
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
, and the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
. Khalidi retired from Columbia University on October 8, 2024.


Family, education and career

Khalidi was born in New York City. Khalidi is the son of Ismail Khalidi and the nephew of Husayin al-Khalidi. He is the father of playwright Ismail Khalidi and activist/attorney Dima Khalidi. He grew up in New York City, where his father, a Saudi citizen of Palestinian origin who was born in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, worked for the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
. Khalidi's mother, a Lebanese-American, was an interior decorator. Khalidi attended the United Nations International School. In 1970, Khalidi received a B.A. from
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, where he was a member of the Wolf's Head Society. He then received a D.Phil. from
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
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 The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...
, published two books and several articles, and also was a research fellow at the independent
Institute for Palestine Studies The Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) is the oldest independent nonprofit public service research institute in the Arab world. It was established and incorporated in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1963 and has since served as a model for other such ins ...
". He has also taught at the Lebanese University. Khalidi became politically active in
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
, where he resided through the 1982 Lebanon War. "I was deeply involved in politics in Beirut" in the 1970s, he said in an interview. Khalidi was cited in the media during this period, sometimes as an official with the Palestinian News Service,
Wafa Wafa (, , an acronym of , ), also referred to in English as the Palestine News Agency and the Palestinian News & Info Agency, is the official state media, state-run news agency of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Before the formation of ...
, or directly with the
Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...
. Khalidi has said that he was not a PLO spokesman, and that he "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." Subsequently, sources disagreed as to the nature or existence of Khalidi's official relationship with the organization. Returning to America, Khalidi spent two years teaching at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
before joining the faculty of the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
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 , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
, 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, where he currently serves as the
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 ...
Professor of Modern Arab Studies. He has also taught at
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
. Khalidi is married to Mona Khalidi, who served as 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. He is also a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...
. In October 2010, Khalidi delivered the annual Edward Said memorial lecture at the Palestine Center in Washington.


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 The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...
, 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 media, the role of education in the construction of political identity, and the way regional narratives have developed over the past centuries. 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 and is currently co-editor of the '' Journal of Palestine Studies'' with Sherene Seikaly. 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 Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson (August 26, 1936 – December 13, 2015) was an Anglo-Irish political scientist and historian who lived and taught in the United States. Anderson is best known for his 1983 book ''Imagined Communities'', which e ...
who described nations as " imagined communities", he does not posit primordial national identities, but 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 The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...
. ''Palestinian Identity'' won the Middle East Studies Association's top honor, the
Albert Hourani Book Award The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) offers four book awards at its fall annual conference. Albert Hourani Book Award The Albert Hourani Book Award is an award honoring scholarly non-fiction books, given by the Middle Eas ...
as best book of 1997. His dating of the emergence of Palestinian nationalism to the early 20th century and his tracing of its contours provide a rejoinder to Israeli nationalist claims that Palestinians had no collective claims prior to the 1948 creation of Israel. His signature work, ''Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness'' (Columbia University Press, 1997), argues that Arabs living in Palestine began to regard themselves as a distinct people decades before 1948, "and that the struggle against Zionism does not by itself sufficiently explain Palestinian nationalism". In it, Khalidi also describes the late development, failings and internal divisions within the various elements of the Palestinian nationalist movement. In ''Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East'' (2004), Khalidi follows the history of Western involvement in the Middle East, and describes it as colonialist in nature. He finds hat this morally unacceptable and likely to backfire. Khalidi's book, ''Sowing Crisis'', places the United States approach to the Middle East in historical context. He is sharply critical of U.S. policies during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, writing that Cold War policies "formulated to oppose the Soviets, consistently undermined democracy and exacerbated tensions in the Middle East". Khalidi has written, "It may seem hard to believe today, but for decades the United States was in fact a major patron, indeed in some respects ''the'' major patron, of earlier incarnations" of radical, militant Islam, in order to use all possible resources in waging the Cold War. He add:
The Cold War was over, but its tragic sequels, its toxic debris, and its unexploded mines continued to cause great harm, in ways largely unrecognized in American discourse.
Historian and Israeli Ambassador to the United States
Michael Oren Michael Bornstein Oren (; born Michael Scott Bornstein; May 20, 1955) is an American-Israeli diplomat, writer, and politician. He is a former Israeli ambassador to the United States (2009–2013), former member of the Knesset for the Kul ...
has stated that "Khalidi is onsideredmainstream" only because "the stream itself has changed. The criteria for scholarship have become very political."


''Palestinian Identity''

In ''Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness'' (1997) cited book. Khalidi argues that a Palestinian national consciousness emerged in the beginning of the twentieth century. He describes the Arab population 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. Khalidi writes, "Local patriotism could not yet be described as nation-state nationalism." Khalidi emphasized in his work that the Palestinian identity had been fundamentally fluid and changing, woven from multiple "narratives" due to individual and family experiences. He described the identity as organically developed due to the challenges of peasants forced from their homes due to Zionist immigrant pressure, but with
Palestinian nationalism Palestinian nationalism is the national movement of the Palestinian people that espouses Palestinian self-determination, self-determination and sovereignty over the region of Palestine.de Waart, 1994p. 223 Referencing Article 9 of ''The Pales ...
also being far more complex than merely an anti-Zionist reaction. Praise for his book appeared in the journal ''
Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...
'', with reviewer William B. Quandt viewing the work as "a major contribution to historical understanding of Palestinian nationalism." Khalidi also documents active opposition by the Arab press to
Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
in the 1880s.


''The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood''

In 2006, Khalidi published '' The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood'' which critically examines the Palestinian struggle for statehood during the British Mandate. It highlights both the failures of Palestinian leadership and British and Zionist roles in hindering statehood for Palestine.


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 radio and TV shows including ''
All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
'', '' Talk of the Nation'', ''
Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...
'', ''
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'', '' The News Hour with Jim Lehrer'', ''
Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show ''Charlie Rose (talk show), Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg L.P., Bloombe ...
'', and ''
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'', and has appeared on the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
, the
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, France Inter and the
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. He served as president of the American Committee on Jerusalem, now known as the American Task Force on Palestine, and from 1991 to 1993 served as an official advisor to the joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation—later transitioning to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) delegation — during the Middle East peace conference in Madrid and the ensuing Israeli-Palestinian-American negotiations in Washington.


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 The two-state solution is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, by creating two states on the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. It is often contrasted with the one-state solution, which is the esta ...
to the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict about Territory, land and self-determination within the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. Key aspects of the conflict include the Israeli occupation ...
, 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 The one-state solution is a proposed approach to the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. It stipulates the establishment of a single state within the boundaries of what was Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and 1948, today consisting of the co ...
". He supports the
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's ...
movement. Regarding American support for Israel, Khalidi stated in an interview, "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 what Khalidi considers to be Israeli occupation. For example, in a speech given to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Khalidi said, " lling 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 claimed 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 the
Jewish refugees This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews. Timeline The following is a list of Jewish expulsions and events that prompted significant streams of Jewish refugees. Assyrian captivity ...
from 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".


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. 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
Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
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 U.S. presidential campaign

Consequent to publication by the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' of an article about Obama's attendance at a 2003 farewell dinner for Khalidi, their relationship became an issue in the campaign. Some opponents of
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
claimed that the relationship between Obama and Khalidi was evidence that Obama would not maintain a pro-Israel foreign policy if elected. When asked, Obama called his own commitment to Israel "unshakeable" and said he does not consult with Khalidi on foreign policy. Opponents of Republican candidate
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
pointed out that he had served as chairman of the
International Republican Institute The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1983 and funded and supported by the United States federal government. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. Its public mission is to a ...
(IRI) during the 1990s which provided grants worth $500,000 to the Center for Palestine Research and Studies, which was co-founded by Khalidi, for the purpose of polling the views of the Palestinian people.


Retirement from Columbia

Rashidi announced his retirement from Columbia University in late June 2024, with the process being finalized on October that same year. In an interview with ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
,'' Khalidi cited the university's crackdown on pro-Palestinian student protests, which he had vocally supported, and the transformation of the university into a "hedge fund-cum-real estate operation, with a minor sideline in education" as reasons for his retirement. The announcement coincided with news that a throng of extremist settlers had stormed a family home on Silsila Road in Jerusalem, which had been Khalidi family property since the 18th century. After the death of a cousin, plans were made to transform it into an extension of the Khalidi library nearby, which holds over 1,200 manuscripts, some as old as the 11th century. Khalidi fears that Israeli courts will ignore their title and open the property to expropriation.


Published works

* ''British Policy towards Syria and Palestine, 1906–19''". ''14''. Ithaca Press for St. Antony's College, 1980. * ''Palestine and the Gulf'' (Co-editor), Institute for Palestine Studies, 1982. * ''Under Siege: PLO Decision-making during the 1982 War''. Columbia University Press, 1986. * ''The Origins of Arab Nationalism ''(Co-editor), Columbia University Press, 1991.
''Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness''
Columbia University Press, 1997. * * ''Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East'', Beacon Press, 2004. * * ''Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East'', Beacon Press, 2009. * '' Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East'', Beacon Press, 2013. * '' The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017,'' Metropolitan Books 2020


References


External links


Columbia University faculty page

Profile on Rashid Khalidi at the Institute for Middle East Understanding

Rashid Khalidi on the futility of negotiations, since a one-state solution already exists
Haaretz, December 5, 2011
Video: Rashid Khalidi – Palestine: 40 Years of Occupation, 60 Years of Dispossession
(June 23, 2007) * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalidi, Rashid 21st-century American historians American foreign policy writers Historians of the Middle East Middle Eastern studies in the United States Writers on Zionism Palestinianists Palestinologists American writers of Palestinian descent Arab-American writers American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers Columbia University faculty Columbia School of International and Public Affairs faculty University of Chicago faculty Academic staff of Lebanese University Historians from New York (state) United Nations International School alumni Yale University alumni Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Khalidi family Banu Makhzum Quraysh American people of Lebanese descent American Muslims 1948 births Living people