The Palestine Human Rights Campaign (PHRC) today expressed its profound sadness at the death of Prof. Edward Said. Said was one of the best-known and respected Arab intellectuals and a staunch, un-wavering activist for the rights of the Palestinian people.

PHRC spokesperson Sari Kassis said, "Edward Said was a giant figure in the intellectual world, the Palestinian people and for all Arabs in the Middle East and across the world. We relied heavily on his wisdom and guidance in our work here at PHRC over the years, and counted on his invaluable and prolific body of work. He is an irreplaceable treasure, and we shall miss him beyond measure." Mr Kassis concluded, "we extend our most heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. We want them to know that we, the community at large, and millions of people of conscience around the world join them in mourning the passing of a truly great and noble man."

Prof. Edward Said was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City. He was the past President of the Modern Language Association and one of the most influential literary critics of his generation. His seminal work, "Orientalism," is widely credited with inaugurating the Postcolonial Studies movement in the humanities. Other works, including "The Question of Palestine," "After the Last Sky," "The Politics of Dispossession," "Peace and its Discontents," and his extraordinary memoir, "Out of Place," constitute one of the most sustained and effective efforts to represent the Palestinian experience to the American public.

Said, a multi-talented renaissance man, was also Music Editor for the Nation magazine in the 1990s, and an accomplished pianist. His collections of essays, "The World, the Text, the Critic," and "Reflections on Exile" are among the most influential in contemporary literary scholarship. His 1982 work, "Covering Islam," set the standard for much of the media criticism to follow.

His 1993 Reith Lectures for the BBC, published as "Representations of the Intellectual," explained in detail his vision of the public intellectual as a fiercely independent spirit who confronted both the smugly powerful and the complacent public with difficult truths. Edward Said’s life-work was an exercise in this ethos, forever challenging friend and foe alike. PHRC extends its deepest condolences to Edward Said’s family and to the community, and reiterates its deep sadness at having lost one of its most valued leaders and inspirations.