This is a statement refuting allegations made in recent days that Dr. Khalil Shikaki, a Senior Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, is a member or sympathizer of Islamic Jihad or any other terrorist organizations. Dr. Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, is a scholar widely considered to be among the most serious, responsible, credible, committed and courageous observers of Middle East politics. For more than a decade and a half, he has been at the forefront of numerous attempts to help reach a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. During this period, Dr. Shikaki has been lecturing at leading institutions in America and Israel dealing with Middle East affairs and has often briefed senior U.S. government officials and Jewish organizations in the United States. These include the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Anti-Defamation League, and the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Brandeis University is convinced that the allegations made against Dr. Shikaki are based entirely on unsubstantiated claims, mischaracterizations, innuendos, and guilt by association. Nothing in the material released in the framework of these attacks provides grounds for Brandeis University to reconsider its judgment that Dr. Shikaki has all the necessary credentials to serve as Senior Fellow at the Crown Center.
