Group Pressures Brandeis University to Remove Scholar

Academe, Mar/Apr 2006 by Bradley, Gwendolyn

In January, the Zionist Organization of America asked Brandeis University to dismiss Palestinian scholar Khalil Shikaki, alleging that evidence in the terrorism trial of professor Sam Al-Arian linked him to the Islamic Jihad (see "AAUP Questions University on Status of Al-Arian" on pages 14-15 of this issue). In a wiretapped conversation in 1995, Shikaki agreed to take money "for orphans in Nablus," according to the New York Sun. Government lawyers argued that "orphans" was code for Islamic Jihad. In a later conversation, after the U.S. Department of State declared Islamic Jihad a terrorist organization, Al-Arian's brother-in-law told another associate that "Khalil" had refused more money. Though Shikaki was not charged with any crime, the Zionist organization called his alleged behavior "deeply disturbing."

Shikaki, widely regarded as a moderate, is a senior research fellow at Brandeis's Crown Center for Middle East Studies and has co-taught a course titled "Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East" with Israeli and Egyptian scholars. He has publicly rejected violence and criticized Palestinian leadership.

Shai Feldman, director of the Cown Center, rejected the allegations that Shikaki is a member or sympathizer of Islamic Jihad or any other terrorist organization. "He is an internationally recognized and respected scholar, who has been at the forefront of numerous attempts to help reach a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Nothing in the material released in the framework of the attacks on Dr. Shikaki provides grounds for me to reconsider my judgment that he has the professional expertise and all of the necessary credentials to serve as senior fellow at the Crown Center," Feldman said.

-G.B.