Muhammad Hallaj

Hallaj was born in Qalqilya, Mandatory Palestine, in 1932.^[1] He attended a high school in Jaffa.^[2] Following the Nakba the family left their hometown.^[2] He obtained his Ph.D. in political sciences from the University of Florida in 1966.^[1]

Following his graduation Hallaj joined the Jacksonville University, Florida, as a lecturer and taught there until 1970.^[2][3] Then he taught at the University of Jordan in Amman from 1970 to 1975.^[3] During his tenure Hallaj served as dean of social sciences.^[2] Next he joined Birzeit University on the West Bank in 1975 and became a full professor.^[2] 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.^[2] He taught at Birzeit University until 1981 when he went to the US for a study visit at Harvard University.^[1] 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.^[2] Therefore, he had to leave Palestine and settled in the US.^[3]

Hallaj was the editor of a magazine entitled Palestine Perspectives between 1983 and 1991.^[2] He was the director of the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine from 1991 to 1994.^[1] He was made a member of the Palestinian National Council in 1991.^[3] He headed Palestinian delegation during the multilateral talks on refugees which had been initiated after the Madrid Conference in 1991.^[1]

Hallaj was a board member of various Palestinian organizations such as the commissioners of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights.^[1]

Work

Hallaj published many articles on Palestinian affairs.^[1] He was among the contributors of the 1988 book entitled Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question edited by Edward Said and Christopher Hitchens.^[4]

Hallaj died in 2017.^[3]