Birth: 1/1/1896 Death:1/1/1951
Born in Jerusalem on 17 Dec. 1896; studied at Al-Mutran (St. George) School in Jerusalem; studied in Beirut for one year, then enrolled at the Ottoman College of Medicine in Beirut, graduating with a BSS in Pharmacy in 1917; served with the Ottoman army during WWI; was in charge of a military hospital in Syria; continued his education at AUB, gaining a BA in Sciences; afterwards served in the British Mandate government’s Educational Dept. from 1919-25; then became Principal of the Teacher School (Dar Al-Mu’allimin) in Jerusalem, which he renamed ‘The Arab College,’ from 1925-48; published a guidebook on Arab education with the Beit Al-Maqdes press in 1933; after the 1936-37 disturbances, started a project with some friends, called the Farm of Deir ‘Amr, to sponsor orphans who lost their parents during the turmoil in Palestine; made available for these orphans the best possible education at the time; was appointed Deputy-Director of Education in 1941; after 1948, established another school for orphaned refugees in Hinniyya, South Lebanon; introduced and used British education methodology; played an important role in developing the Palestinian Arab educational curriculum focusing on nationalization and Arabization, and in changing teaching methods as well as teacher-student relations towards more scientific and independent thinking; father of Walid Al-Khalidi who became an outstanding representative of a new generation of Palestinian intellectuals; translator and author of many books on education, history and psychology, incl. Arabs and Modern Civilization (1951) and Travels Across the Land of Syria (1946); died in 1951.
