Edward Said, the most prominent voice of the Palestinian cause in the United States and an important intellectual, died Thursday in New York at the age of 67.
Said's death was announced by Columbia University in New York, where he had taught English and comparative literature since 1963.
As an activist he wrote several influential books about the Middle East conflict. His 1978 work "Orientalism," on how the West sees Islam, was translated into 26 languages.
Other prominent books included "The Question of Palestine" in 1979 -- which attacked the Palestine Liberation Organization and Arab nations for their treatment of Palestinians -- and "After the Last Sky" in 1986.
According to AFP, He was also a member of the Palestinian National Council, the parliament in exile, for 14 years before quitting in 1991 after falling out with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat over the rapprochement with Israel.
Said was born in Jerusalem on November 1, 1935, when it was under British mandate. His mother was a Palestinian Protestant and his father a rich Palestinian-American trader.
The family moved to Cairo in 1947 and at the age of 17, after being expelled from school, he was sent to the United States as a student.
He received a bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1957 and later, a master's degree and doctorate from Harvard.
He wrote articles for the New York Times and other major newspapers around the world.
He has called the Oslo agreement between Israel and the P.L.O. “an instrument of Palestinian surrender” and an extension of Israel’s long-standing policy to dominate the Arabs militarily and economically. His criticism extended to the United States, which he called a “dishonest broker” in the peace process due to its long-standing support for Israel.
He supported a single bi-national state for Israelis and Palestinians. He condemned attacks by Palestinian groups but also said Israeli air raids on Palestinian refugee groups were the same thing.
Said suffered from chronic leukemia, for which he had received periodic chemotherapy treatments since the disease was first diagnosed in 1992. (Albawaba.com)
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