Dreams and delusions -- ( 21 - 27 August 2003)
Meanings are not imposed from one culture on to another any more than one language and one culture alone possesses the secret of how to get things done efficiently, writes Edward Said

Preface to Orientalism -- (7 - 13 August 2003)
The terrible conflicts that herd people under falsely unifying rubrics like "America", "The West" or "Islam" must be opposed, writes Edward Said

Imperial perspectives -- ( 24 - 30 July 2003)
The distortions of imperial perspectives produce further distortions in Middle Eastern society that prolong suffering and induce extreme forms of resistance, writes Edward Said

Dignity and solidarity -- ( 26 June - 2 July 2003)
The struggle of the Palestinian people is now a byword for emancipation and enlightenment, except, perhaps, in the Arab world, writes Edward Said

Archaeology of the roadmap -- ( 12 - 18 June 2003)
To read through the roadmap is to confront an unsituated document, oblivious of its time and place, says Edward Said

The Arab condition -- ( 22 - 28 May 2003)
Why do the Arabs never pool their resources to fight for the causes which officially, at least, they support. And how much further can we sink, asks Edward Said

What is happening to the United States? -- ( 24 - 30 April 2003)
What is formidable about Iraq is its rich culture, its complex society, and its long-suffering people, writes Edward Said . These were all made invisible, the better to smash Iraq as if it were only a den of thieves and murderers

The other America -- ( 20 - 26 March 2003)
The United States is not the monolith many Arabs presume it to be. It is more accurate, writes Edward Said , to apprehend America as embroiled in a serious clash of identities whose counterparts are visible as similar contests throughout the rest of the world

Who is in charge? -- ( 6 - 12 March 2003)
A tiny, unelected group, supported by powerful, unrepresentative minorities, writes Edward Said

A monument to hypocrisy -- ( 13 - 19 February 2003)
Every one of us must raise our voices, and march in protest, now and again and again, writes Edward Said

An unacceptable helplessness -- ( 16 - 22 January 2003)
Will the last person to leave please turn out the lights? Edward Said urges an Arab alternative to the wreckage that is about to engulf our world

Immediate imperatives -- ( 19 - 25 December 2002)
Real change can come, in Palestine as elsewhere, only when people actively will that change, writes Edward Said

Misinformation about Iraq -- ( 28 Nov. - 4 Dec. 2002)
A fantastical future, predicted by the terminally disengaged. Woe to Iraq, writes Edward Said

Europe versus America -- ( 14 - 20 November 2002)
In comparison with US war fever, Europe has struck a more moderate, thoughtful tone. But when will it assume a countervailing role to America, asks Edward Said

Israel, Iraq, and the United States -- ( 10 - 16 October 2002)
America marches to war as if in a trance. We must do everything in our power to slow down and finally stop the recourse to war that has now become a theory and not just a practice, writes Edward Said

Low point of powerlessness -- ( 26 Sept. - 2 October 2002)
As Sharon escalates his criminal war against defenceless Palestinians, Arafat has the courage and defiance to resist, says Edward Said And he has his people with him on that score

Disunity and factionalism -- ( 15 - 21 August 2002)
What lies behind the Pavlovian regularity with which Arabs try to hurt and impede each other rather than uniting behind a common purpose, asks Edward Said

Punishment by detail -- ( 8 - 14 August 2002)
Terrorism, and its obsessive pursuit, have become an entirely circular, self-fulfiling murder and slow death of enemies who have no choice or say in the matter, writes Edward Said

One-way street -- ( 11 - 17 July 2002)
The new Arab order that emerged after the Gulf War institutionalised the traffic between the US and the Arabs: the Arabs gave, and the US gave more and more to Israel, writes Edward Said

Palestinian elections now -- ( 13 - 19 June 2002)
Palestinians have seldom faced a worse, or a more seminal, moment, writes Edward Said. How, then, might it be grasped?

Crisis for American Jews -- ( 16 - 22 May 2002)
Why is American Jewish support for Israel more fanatical than even anti-Arab sentiment among Israelis? Edward Said explains

What Israel has done -- ( 18 - 24 April 2002)
Can Israel be a state like all others? That is the true question of its existence, writes Edward Said

Thinking ahead -- ( 4 -10 April 2002)
After survival, what happens? Edward Said offers thoughts in a time of tragedy

What Price Oslo? -- ( 14 - 20 March 2002)
Due weight given to decades of Palestinian suffering, to the enormous human costs of Israel's destructive policies: this, writes Edward Said, is the only possible framework for negotiations

Thoughts about America -- ( 28 Feb. - 6 March 2002)
Edward Said warns against the return to a shameful episode in the US's intellectual history

The screw turns, again -- ( 31 Jan. - 6 Feb. 2002)
It falls to the victim to show new paths of resistance, writes Edward Said

Emerging alternatives in Palestine -- ( 10 - 16 January 2002)
End the occupation: that comes first. Edward Said comments on a brave initiative

A living idea -- ( 27 Dec. 2001 - 2 Jan. 2002)
Edward Said remembers a friend lost in the dying year

Israel's dead end -- ( 20 - 26 December 2001)
Edward Said wonders: is Israel more secure now?

Cruelty of memory -- ( 13 - 19 December 2001)
To have taken history not only seriously but also literally is the central achievement of Mahfouz's work, argues Edward Said

Suicidal ignorance -- ( 15 - 21 November 2001)
By now, at least, it should be clear: the US just doesn't get it. Time for a change of policy, writes Edward Said

A vision to lift the spirit -- ( 25 - 31 October 2001)
Principles and education: these are the ways out of the Middle East impasse, writes Edward Said

Adrift in similarity -- ( 11 - 17 October 2001)
However reassuring they may be, writes Edward Said, monoliths help us understand nothing

Backlash and backtrack -- ( 27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001)
We must expect of ourselves what we do of others, writes Edward Said

Collective passion -- ( 20 - 26 September 2001)
Can the voice of rationality be heard over the war drums? Edward Said hopes so

Propaganda and war -- ( 6 - 12 September 2001)
The first step is to restore the Palestinians' history and humanity, writes Edward Said

Propaganda and war -- ( 30 August - 5 September 2001)
The first step is to restore the Palestinians' history and humanity, writes Edward Said

Occupation is the atrocity -- ( 16 - 22 August 2001)
What the Palestinians need now, writes Edward Said, is a united leadership that takes positions and plans mass actions designed not to return to Oslo but to press on with resistance and liberation

Barenboim and the Wagner taboo -- ( 16 - 22 August 2001)
On the occasion of his playing a Wagner extract at Israel's premiere musical event, Edward Said explores possible political implications of Daniel Barenboim's work

The price of Camp David -- ( 19 - 25 July 2001)
Why has Arafat forgotten the weapons of the weak? Edward Said writes

Sharpening the axe -- ( 5 - 11 July 2001)
Occupation is the source of violence: this is what we must remember, writes Edward Said

Enemies of the state -- ( 21 - 27 June 2001)
It's only getting worse, writes Edward Said

Defiance, dignity, and the rule of dogma -- ( 17 - 23 May 2001)
Whether Israeli intellectuals have failed or not is not for us to decide. What concerns us is the shabby state of discourse and analysis in the Arab world, writes Edward Said

Thinking about Israel -- ( 3 - 9 May 2001)
Israel's official callousness to the Palestinians has been internalised, not only by extreme American Zionists, ... Ariel Sharon, and the Israeli political establishment, but also by the Palestinian leadership, writes Edward Said

These are the realities -- ( 19 - 25 April 2001)
Everyone is responsible for Palestinian liberation, writes Edward Said

Time to turn to the other front -- ( 29 March - 4 April 2001)
Until the Intifada is understood in the West as a civilian uprising against colonial oppression, writes Edward Said, the Palestinians have no chance of obtaining equality and justice

Freud, Zionism, and Vienna -- ( 15 - 21 March 2001)
Edward Said explains why intellectuals must fight on, against all the odds, for peace with justice

The only alternative -- ( 1 - 7 March 2001)
Why have the Arabs not learned from South Africa's successful struggle for liberation? Edward Said wonders

Where is Israel going? -- ( 8 - 14 February 2001)
The deluded members of the world's most violent cult continue to believe in the willing enslavement of their victims. Edward Said wonders why

Too much work -- ( 1 - 7 February 2001)
Barely any divine inspiration -- far more perspiration and elaboration. Edward Said reflects on genius

Trying again and again -- ( 11 - 17 January 2001)
It is time to put up signposts for a new era, argues Edward Said

American elections: System or farce? -- ( 21 - 27 December 2000)
Critical thought can be a lethal weapon. Edward Said examines the Bush victory

The tragedy deepens -- ( 7 -13 December 2000)
Enough is enough, writes Edward Said

American Zionism (3) -- ( 2 - 8 November 2000)
In a continuing series of reflections on Zionism in America, Edward Said finds tragedies enfolded within tragedies

The end of Oslo -- ( 12 - 18 October 2000)
Not even Yasser Arafat can accept anything less than a peace between true equals, writes Edward Said

More on American Zionism (2) -- ( 5 - 11 October 2000)
Addressing US policymakers can only have disastrous results for the Arabs, writes Edward Said

American Zionism -- the real problem (1) -- ( 21 - 27 September 2000)
What role can a former enemy have, having surrendered to its more powerful antagonist? Edward Said discusses different options

Problems of neoliberalism -- ( 7 - 13 September 2000)
When does the need for change actually bring about a transformation? Edward Said ponders a pressing political question

A voice crying in the wilderness -- ( 24 - 30 August 2000)
Gore and Bush are as different as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum; they are not the only "alternatives" offered at the US presidential race, writes Edward Said

One more chance -- ( 3 - 9 August 2000)
If Arafat wishes to avoid the dismal logical end to the Oslo peace process which he barely escaped at Camp David, he must summon the resources of his people, writes Edward Said in support of the task

A final summit? -- ( 20 - 26 July 2000)
What the US and Israel really want from Camp David is an end to all claims of restitution for Palestinian suffering -- in essence, a denial of history. Edward Said writes

Magic thought and wishful thinking -- ( 29 June - 5 July 2000)
With a wave of the wand, everyone is happy. In the meantime, writes Edward Said, those who are suffering must continue to do so

A new kind of thriller -- ( 22 - 28 June 2000)
One Day in September is a tired, cliché-ridden tissue of bad cinema, bad politics and bad thinking. So why did it win an Oscar? Edward Said wonders

The landscape of opposition -- ( 8 - 14 June 2000)
South Lebanon's liberation, writes Edward Said, disproves conventional wisdom on the "peace process." What clichés will come crashing down next?

Sartre and the Arabs: a footnote -- ( 18 - 24 May 2000)
The Sartre legacy in the Arab World is a unique instance of East-West exchange, but its intricacies, suggests Edward Said, have disturbing political dimensions

Cultural politics -- ( 4 - 10 May 2000)
Edward Said watches as New York celebrates Youssri Nasrallah's new film, and revels in the appearance of a new generation of Arab artists on the international stage

Law and order -- ( 6 - 12 April 2000)
Problems of police brutality can only be addressed by the citizens themselves, writes Edward Said. We created the problem; we, too, must solve it

A truly fragile identity -- ( 23 - 29 March 2000)
Edward Said peers into the void at the heart of Israel

The gap grows wider -- ( 2 - 8 March 2000)
Torture is torture, whatever its colour, writes Edward Said. And above all, injustice is injustice and will be perceived as such

Reflections on American injustice -- ( 24 Feb. - 1 March 2000)
We still await a Godot in shining armour, writes Edward Said, while we should be addressing those he has trampled for centuries

The right of return, at last -- ( 10 - 16 February 2000)
Down to the brass tacks: the fundamental conflict is between Palestinian and Israeli nationalism now, writes Edward Said

How long can waiting work? -- ( 27 Jan. - 2 Feb. 2000)
The barbarians are at the gates -- or maybe not. What does it matter? Edward Said wonders

Heroism and humanism -- ( 6 - 12 January 2000)
The new and unfamiliar landscape that stretches out before us offers humanity new opportunities to exercise its intellectual energies with heroism and personal engagement. Edward Said looks to the future

Scoundrel times indeed -- ( 23 - 29 December 1999)
Little new can come from damaged goods, writes Edward Said

A protest too long delayed -- ( 9 - 15 December 1999)
The Palestinian Authority's most recent crackdown has revealed how deeply unpopular the "peace process" and its proponents have really become. Edward Said comments

The hazards of publishing a memoir -- ( 2 - 8 December 1999)
Edward Said learned much while writing Out of Place -- and even more when it was read

Opinion |What can separation mean? -- ( 11 - 17 November 1999)
Palestinians and Israelis are inextricably linked, writes Edward Said. Now what?

By birth or by choice? -- ( 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999)
Until Oslo, Palestine was far more than a country erased from the map, writes Edward Said. Its people's struggle for freedom offered inspiration to liberationist movements everywhere. Even today, to choose one's identity is to make history -- and to refuse the version written by others

Farewell to Tahia -- ( 7 - 13 October 1999)
A sense of a sprawling, teeming history off the page, out of sight and hearing, beyond reach, largely irrecoverable: Edward Said assesses the significance of the life and career of Tahia Carioca

Paying the price for personal politics -- ( 30 Sep. - 6 Oct. 1999)
If Palestinian politics seem to be a one-man show, Yasser Arafat is not the only one to blame. Edward Said writes

Defamation, Zionist-style -- ( 26 Aug. - 1 Sep. 1999)
Edward Said finds himself caught in the cogs of the Big Lie Machine

Refusal to surrender quietly -- ( 5 - 11 August 1999)
Dispossession remains a reality for the overwhelming majority of Palestinians, writes Edward Said. Their voices will be heard

Private planes, power and privilege -- ( 22 - 28 July 1999)
No need for a minister to go shopping for groceries, writes Edward Said; but what about those standing at the back?

The treason of the intellectuals -- ( 24 - 30 June 1999)
Clinton and Milosevic, Saddam Hussein and Ehud Barak: Edward Said fails to see the difference

A place to travel in -- ( 24 - 30 June 1999)
Edward Said argues that if the Academy is to play its role in the development of knowledge its inhabitants must be guided by the spirit of the traveller, not the sultan

Really, now -- what's next? -- ( 10 - 16 June 1999)
A flag without a country: Edward Said fears seminars could replace true liberation

A true struggle, a good man -- ( 13 - 19 May 1999)
Humanity and genuine secularism had no finer champion -- Edward Said remembers Eqbal Ahmad, who died this week in Islamabad

Forced to accept false logic -- ( 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999)
To be "for" or "against" NATO, writes Edward Said, is to have succumbed to the propaganda campaign of quick fixes and easy ethnic solutions

Self-determination for all -- ( 8 - 14 April 1999)
Another bombing, another butcher. Edward Said reflects on the illusion of world leadership

Music of men's lives -- ( 18 - 24 March 1999)
Edward Said laments the passing away of a great musician and a great citizen of the world

Barbarians at the gates -- ( 11 - 17 March 1999)
The Iraqis are the latest in a long series of peoples dehumanised and destroyed by "Western civilisation", writes Edward Said. So why, when we are next, do we accept their fate with such diffident passivity?

Public spectacle, public history -- ( 18 - 24 February 1999)
CNN rules the waves: Edward Said on the hijacking of thought by the new world view

Literature and literalism -- ( 28 Jan. - 3 Feb. 1999)
There can be no civilized society in which the life of the mind is ruled dogmatically by laws of what is forbidden and what cannot be read, writes Edward Said

Truth and reconciliation -- ( 14 - 20 January 1999)
Both Palestinians and Israelis are there to stay, writes Edward Said: the only conclusion is that peaceful coexistence, genuine reconciliation and real self-determination must be sought. Injustice and belligerence will not disappear by themselves, however: they must be destroyed by all concerned

An incitement to revolt -- ( 31 Dec. 1998 - 6 Jan. 1999)
The Wye Memorandum has meant more of many things for the Palestinians: more settlements, more humiliation and, above all, more repression. Edward Said contemplates the ruins of the peace process

Clinton's rampage -- ( 24 - 30 December 1998)
An American public thirsty for wars against lesser, dehumanised enemies, a skilled and bloodless media campaign, and a ruthless president: Edward Said watches the bombing of Baghdad

West Bank diary -- ( 10 - 16 December 1998)
Breaking barriers may be a two-edged sword, writes Edward Said, but, at the dead end of nationalism, speak we must

A longer view -- ( 3 - 9 December 1998)
Edward Said sees hope in such examples of dogged determination and resistance as are offered by Bir Zeit University

The End of the Interim Arrangements -- ( 29 Oct. - 4 Nov. 1998)
Edward Said urges Palestinian representatives to vote with their feet in the upcoming Council meeting to change the National Covenant. He finds the idea that they be rounded up to do Israel's bidding without any change in Israel's highly discriminatory laws preposterous

Methods of forgetting -- ( 22 - 28 October 1998)
We are not prepared to forget, writes Edward Said; and why should we? Can we forget Sabra and Shatila, the "pacification" of Gaza, the massacre of Qibya, the mass murder of Arab civilians? Can we negotiate with Ariel Sharon?

A real state means real work -- ( 1 - 7 October 1998)
The declaration of a Palestinian state, writes Edward Said, is typical of Yasser Arafat's evasive tactics. But this particular trick could have disastrous political consequences

The president and the baseball player -- ( 17 - 23 September 1998)
Good and evil do battle just about anywhere, writes Edward Said; damnation and redemption can be found in the most unlikely places: in a corridor off the Oval Office, or on a large green field. There are men in black, and men in caps

Bridge across the abyss -- ( 10 - 16 September 1998)
In education lies a dimension essential to democracy: how to encourage people to think for themselves, against authority and orthodoxy, in terms not of acquiescence and agreement but of scepticism and dissent. Edward Said reflects

What cabinet reshuffle? -- ( 20 - 26 August 1998)
Corruption and incompetence, writes Edward Said, do not make a state. The task of building institutions from the ground up is at hand

After the final acre -- ( 23 - 29 July 1998)
One more acre, one more goat: as the Zionists continue to consolidate their plan through very real expropriation and demolition, Edward Said looks at the tragedy of an unmobilised people, led by mobile-toting bureaucrats surrounded by bodyguards. The end is nigh, and we are still in never-never land

Arrogance and amnesia -- ( 9 - 15 July 1998)
US foreign policy depends purely on the above. And it will continue to do so as long as we all concur, writes Edward Said

A desolation, and they called it peace -- ( 25 June - 1 July 1998)
Neither improvisation nor violence will help the creation and consolidation of institutions, writes Edward Said. We need to think clearly, not of Jews and Muslims, but of a secular concept of citizenship that will guarantee freedom and equality

Inside the other wilaya -- ( 4 - 10 June 1998)
Only by speaking of democracy and peace for two peoples, writes Edward Said, can we speak the truth to power

New history, old ideas -- ( 21 - 27 May, 1998)
'Yes, we want peace with the Palestinians, but no, there was nothing wrong with what we had to do in l948': this seems to be the gist of much of the0 writing of Israel's new historians. Edward Said, back from a Paris seminar on the topic, discusses the profound contradiction, bordering on schizophrenia, which makes the new historians reluctant to draw the inevitable conclusions from their own evidence

Fifty years of dispossession -- ( 7 - 13 May, 1998)
Israel's 50th anniversary celebrations were in full swing last Thursday, the day when, according to the Jewish calendar, the state of Israel was established.

Scenes from Palestine -- (26 March - 1 April 1998) Edward Said, returning to Palestine for a BBC documentary to be shown in England to coincide with Israel's 50th anniversary, finds the once small, compact city -- Jerusalem -- in which he grew up overwhelmed by continuing, unrelenting Judaisation

Jerusalem revisited -- (22 - 28 January 1998)
Edward Said returns home 45 years after the Naqba to find his family's house in Jerusalem occupied by a right-wing Christian fundamentalist and militantly pro-Zionist group.

The Challenge of Israel: Fifty Years On -- (15 -21 January 1998)
There can be no erasing of the historical truth that the existence of Israel is predicated, indeed imposed upon, the obliteration of another society and people. Every Israeli knows this, as much as every Palestinian does: the question, writes Edward Said, is how long can an intolerable situation of proximity and injury be endured by the victims, and how long can it be deferred by the victors?