Professors Abdel-Fattah, Tamari Chosen to Receive First Professor Emeritus Titles

Upon the recommendation of the University Council and approval of its Board of Trustees, Birzeit University president Khalil Hindi announced on November 4, 2014 the bestowing of the title of professor emeritus to professors Kamal Abdel-Fattah and Salim Tamari. This is the first time the university has granted this honor.

Hindi said the decision was a unanimous one made by the administration, and that those two professors undoubtedly deserve the title.

Abdel-Fattah has worked at the university since 1978, holding several positions, including Faculty of Arts dean, Middle East Studies Department chair, and Geography Department chair. Abdel-Fattah also worked as visiting professor at Harvard, Princeton and Villanova universities in the United States, and the universities of Bayreuth, Erlangen and Tubingen in Germany. Abdel-Fattah is member of the Institute for Palestine Studies and a founding member of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs “PASSIA”.

He has also contributed to authoring two international atlases issued by the German University of Tubingen, and the Arab world atlas, prepared by the Association of Arab Universities, which won the Shoman Prize for Arab youth in social sciences in 1983. Abdel-Fattah has authored books on the historical geography of Palestine, Aseer (Arab Peninsula) geography, Zionist colonialism in Palestine, historical geography of the Arab world and other subjects related to Palestine.

Salim Tamari worked at Birzeit University from 1971 until 2005 before going on to be a visiting professor at several universities, including Harvard University, University of Venice, Columbia University and Bogazici University. Presently, he is editor of the Jerusalem Quarterly journal and head researcher at the Institute for Palestine Studies. Tamari has authored several books on religious culture, political sociology, biographies and social history, among them several recent publications.