In Memory of Edward Sa'id By Abdul-Hakim Salah

In Memory of Edward Sa'id

By Abdul-Hakim Salah

Ma'an, September 29, 2006

Amidst the confusions in the Palestinian territories which are now balanced on the edge of a bottomless pit, I remembered that Edward Sa'id had written a prolonged critique of Oslo, and the future that the peace process would bring to the Palestinians. When I reviewed his writings on the topic, I noticed that he passed away on the 25th of September 2003. So I decided to write this article as a reminder in memory of Sa'id.

Edward Sa'id was born in Jerusalem on Nov 1, 1935. He received his elementary education at St. George's [Al Mutran] School in Jerusalem. In 1947, he moved to Cairo with his family where they lived with their relatives. In Cairo, he first entered St. George's, an American school, and then later Victoria Collage, a British school. He was expelled from Victoria College in 1951 for refusing to abide by its strict regulations. His parents sent him to Mount Hermon Preparatory School in Massachusetts, USA where he later received US citizenship.

As a young man, Sa'id attended the Julliard School of Music and became quite skilled at playing the piano. He attended Princeton University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1957, and his master's degree in 1960. In 1963, he received his PhD from Harvard University. His thesis was on Joseph Conrad; he then took up a position at Columbia University in the Faculty of Comparative Literature.

Edward Sa'id spoke Arabic, English, and French fluently, and had a good knowledge of German, Italian, and Latin.

Since 1967, he devoted himself to defending the Arab and Islamic cultures and was a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause in American society. He was labelled as a professor of terrorism by some of his extreme Zionist opponents.

In 1977, he became a member of the Palestine National Council (PNC) but later resigned in 1991. On September 25, 2003, Edward Sa'id died in New York.

His works

Sa'id wrote many books on a wide range of topics including literary criticism, Middle East politics, opera, film and travel. He was also the subject of many books and essays.

His most famous works are Orientalism (1978), The Question of Palestine (1979), Covering Islam (1981), The Pen and the Sword (1994), Representations of the Intellectual (1994), Out of Place: A memoir (1999), The End of the Peace Process, and Reflections on Exile (2000).

His experience as a Palestinian - American

Sa'id suffered from being both a Palestinian and an American. This paradox of identity and his experiences, contributed in building Said’s thoughts and position. “My own experiences of these matters,” he says in Orientalism, “are in part what made me write this book.”

Edward Sa'id summarizes his own experiences as a Palestinian-American in these words: “The life of an Arab Palestinian in the West, particularly in America, is disheartening. There exists here an almost unanimous consensus that politically, he does not exist, and when it is allowed that he does, it is either as a nuisance or as an Oriental. The web of racism, cultural stereotypes, political imperialism, dehumanizing ideology holding in the Arab or the Muslim is very strong indeed, and it is this web which every Palestinian has come to feel as his uniquely punishing destiny.”

Politically, Edward Sa'id also became famous when he was nominated by the then Egyptian president, Anwar Al-Sadat, to represent the Palestinians at the Camp David negotiations. His appearances in the American media defending his people during the first Intifada also gained him a lot of coverage. He is also accredited for making the US recognize the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Despite his exile from an occupied and colonized homeland, and his alienation in a colonizing state, and despite living in a society hostile to his original identity, and the aggressive campaigns to defame him, Edward Sa'id succeeding in being one of the most prominent thinkers and philosophers of the postcolonial period in the twentieth century.

Edward Sa'id was a fierce opponent of the Oslo Accords. Sa'id’s vision was for a bi-national state based on the concepts of equality and co-existence, without fear of excluding each other.

Sa'id was convinced that a bi-national state is the only solution that can provide a sustainable, long-term peace between the Palestinians and Israelis.

His vision was based on these premises:

1. The demographic distribution of Israelis and Palestinians is highly complex and a source of inevitable clashing.

2. The physical interaction between Palestinians and Israelis, despite of the dispute between them, indicates that they are highly connected to each other, whether geographically or economically.

3. The Arabs from 1948 who are living under the Israeli authority and are struggling to prove their Arab identity within a racist community that considers them as second-class citizens.

4. The small land mass and the difference of the demographic percentages between Palestinians and Israelis make it impossible to form two separate states, especially in Jerusalem.

In conclusion, Edward Sa'id is one of the most influential intellectuals of our time. His writings were very helpful, not only at the Arab level, but on the international stage. He resisted and worked hard to clarify the misperceptions about Arabs and Palestinians. Sa'id was totally convinced that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will not be solved through violence. Only a process of reconciliation can achieve a real peace, if and only if, the Palestinians have the right to self determination and to build their own state.

Abdul-Hakim Salah is an employee at Ma'an News Agency

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=15735

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

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