Rashid Khalidi Receives Phil Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage

“The University Philosophical Society (Phil) hosted historian Rashid Khalidi for a discussion on Wednesday, Apr. 15, in the Graduates Memorial Building, where he was awarded the society’s Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage. “Ireland is very, very, very important to understanding settler colonialism”, historian Khalidi said. “Each settler colonial project is completely different.” Khalidi is a Palestinian American writer and leading scholar on the history of Palestine and the Occupied Territories. Khalidi is well known for books including The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine , and was formerly the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. Hamza Assaf, Co-Chair of the Phil’s Udoma Subcommittee, introduced Khalidi, noting that “one might view his career as a long corrective to the silences and distortions that have so often characterised Western accounts of Palestine.” The Udoma is a subcommittee of the Phil that aims to represent people of colour and ethnic minorities. Assaf continued, calling Khalidi’s “rigorous” and “deeply personal”, characterised by “an enduring commitment to humanising a people whose history has too often been told without them”. Khalidi began by connecting the histories of Ireland and Palestine. His current research locates Ireland as the testing ground for British counterinsurgency doctrines that would go on to be used by the Israeli army in Palestine. “What the British did everywhere, they started here”, Khalidi said. Former Phil President, Liam Corcoran, who was recently succeeded by former Secretary Matilda Brewe, said the Society’s choice to honour the historian “helps us understand the nuances of how Irish counterinsurgency movements deeply intersect with Palestinian ones. We think that…he is one of the most nuanced voices who could possibly comment on both the Irish and American university situation”. In a conversation with Assaf, Khalidi discussed the history and future of the struggle for Palestinian liberation, and the role of academia in it. Even before he became a prolific public authority on Palestine, Khalidi’s political and academic work have always been inextricable from each other. Khalidi said, “My academic work has always been illuminated, inspired, affected, I don’t know what the word is, [but] by my political interests.” “I think growing up in the United States gave me an acute sense of where the narrative was totally skewed, and I guess one of the things I’m trying to do is unskew it.” Academia and political movement not only influence but necessarily rely on each other, he continued. The academics who were once pushing the tide within the humanities and social sciences “now are the tide”, he said. “You go to Hodges Figgis, or you go to any bookstore in the United States, go to Amazon’s Middle East list or its Palestine & Israel list, and you’ll find books by these people, reputable academics, and they’re really selling”, he continued. “And I think that’s a very important backbone to this story [of pro-Palestine activism]”. Khalidi and Assaf went on to discuss the political necessity of language, especially in the case of Palestine and its narration in Western media. Khalidi referenced Edward Said’s idea of the “permission to narrate”. “Palestinians don’t have permission to narrate. [Said] argued that Israel won on the discursive field, the field of discourse, long before it went on the battle. And anybody who doesn’t understand that does not understand politics”, Khalidi said. “Politics is not just guns and votes…language is essential.” Western media and political and cultural institutions, he said, largely haven’t changed regarding Palestine, “but I want to talk a little bit about some things that have changed”. “What has changed in the past few years in the United States and Western Europe is public opinion about Palestine and Israel”, he said, citing polling that shows Americans’ sympathies for Palestine up from 20% to 41% since 2018. This shift in public opinion happened because “a veil of media complicity has been lifted”, especially owing to the work of Palestinian journalists on the ground in Gaza, and because of the activism of young people and students. In August of last year, Khalidi published a letter decrying Columbia University’s cooperation with the Trump administration following prolific campus Palestine solidarity activism, and the university’s ensuing crackdown. To those students who, he said, might be demoralised or disappointed by academic repression, he recalls saying, “what has to be done has to be done over the long haul”. Assaf ended the interview by asking Khalidi how he combats pessimism and if he remains optimistic. “The situation [in Palestine] is appalling. But, however bad it is, I think there is some cause for cautious long-term optimism…” Khalidi said. “This will not happen tomorrow. I’m a historian, I can’t predict what will happen in the future, but I think that it can happen.”

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