A time to consider what lies on the other side of the fence

The benefit of a university environment is the ability to debate any topic under the sun. Race relations, poverty, current events — there is always some dialogue on campus pitting two (or more) opposing sides against each other in order to flesh out the intricacies of a certain topic or subject matter. Sometimes, however, it is beneficial to postpone voicing your own opinion to consider the opposition, no matter how much you may disagree.

The reason I bring this up is because Edward Said '57, professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, is coming to speak about the "End of the Middle East Peace Process" today at 4:30 in McCosh 10.

For those of you who might not know, Edward Said has been one of the most prominent personalities on the Palestinian side of the Arab-Israeli conflict — having served as a member of the Palestinian National Council from 1977-91 — and writes columns in European, Middle Eastern and American periodicals.

When I mentioned Said's engagement to a number of pro-Israel friends of mine, the first reaction I heard was protest: Israel is in a very trying period right now and the occasion of a pro-Palestinian speaker merits a pro-Israel protest. Perhaps a protest is justified if a member of the terrorist group Hamas came to campus to speak, but I believe Said is a different case altogether. While I do not agree with Said's current views — which include support for a binational Palestinian/Jewish state — he is an activist and an academician who has spent decades writing and working in the field.

For instance, Said's most famous book, "Orientalism," attacks what he believes to be the conventional way the West looks at the East — backward, inferior and weak. He traces this view and underlying assumptions that span history in an attempt to show that the manner that the 'Orient' — the Middle East and most of Asia —has been studied has been colored by preconceived notions of Western scholars. Said himself has attacked Bernard Lewis, professor emeritus in the Near Eastern studies department, of Orientalist tendencies in his depictions of Arabs in his novel "Islam in History." He has criticized Lewis and others who, he feels, degrade their subject matter through their descriptions of it.

A recent article published in Commentary magazine even found that perhaps Said has no right to be holding the views he maintains. The article notes that Said has glossed over portions of his early past: while he has talked about his house in Jerusalem where he lived during his childhood, the article found Said actually spent most of his early years in Cairo, where his father was a businessman.

The man who is coming to speak this afternoon has been praised and reviled by academic and political critics alike. In 1998, the New York Times called him, "the most important literary critic alive," whereas many of the reviews I have read of his books are as negative as can be, citing his lack of originality and his blatant omissions. Furthermore, he has been an apologist for some atrocious acts of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, although he has since divorced himself from the PLO after the Oslo Accords were signed between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993.

So, why am I, a supporter of the State of Israel, so in awe of Said? It is probably because he is one of the few faces of the Palestinian cause who sees it from an academic and practical angle. As the author of twenty books, translated in thirty languages, he is an academic worthy enough to be heard irrespective of his political leanings. But this is an individual who has, in my mind, done just about everything that can be done: has had the ear of Yasir Arafat, sits on the boards of more than twenty journals, is a regular contributor to magazines on three continents and is the winner of numerous book awards.

It is for this reason that I ask my pro-Israel friends — as well as the entire campus community — to go and listen to Said speak. You may vehemently disagree with him, you may not think much of his work and you may question his qualifications, as many in the world have done. But the fact remains that he is an important personality in the study and history of the Middle East. There is a time to protest, but there is also a time to listen to the other side. Seth Wikas '01 is a Near Eastern Studies major from Beachwood, OH. H e can be reached at sawikas@princeton.edu.