Orientalism Said dead

Edward W. Said, a Columbia University professor, literary critic and leading spokesman in the US for the Palestinian cause, has died, his editor at Knopf Publishers said today. He was 67.

Said died last night at a New York hospital, said editor Shelley Wanger. He had suffered from leukemia at least since the early 1990s. Born in 1935 in Jerusalem, Said spent almost all his adult life in the US. He wrote passionately about the Palestinian cause but also on a variety of other subjects. His books ranged from The question of Palestine in 1979 and After the last sky in 1986 8212; both about the Arab-Israeli conflict 8212; to Musical elaborations in 1991, and Cultural imperialism in 1993. 8216;8216;Palestine and Palestinians remain, despite Israel8217;s concerted efforts from the beginning either to get rid of them or to circumscribe them so much as to make them ineffective,8217;8217; Said wrote in the English-language Al-Ahram weekly, published in Cairo. After the Oslo peace accords, Said criticised Yasser Arafat because he believed the PLO leader had made a bad deal for the Palestinians.