By: Prof. Dr. Mohsen Mohammad Saleh.
It was a moving moment as we performed the funeral prayer for Dr. Bayan ‘Ajaj Nuwayhed and stood to bid her farewell while her body was laid to rest on Sunday, 13/7/2025 (a day after her passing) at the Martyrs of the Palestinian Revolution Cemetery near Shatila Refugee Camp. There, her late husband Shafiq al-Hout also lies, as does former Palestinian leader Haj Amin al-Husseini, along with Muhammad Yusuf al-Najjar and Kamal ‘Adwan, among the prominent leaders of the Fatah movement. I also noticed that her grave lies just a few meters away from that of Saleh al-‘Arouri, Deputy Head of the Hamas movement.
Nuwayhed was a towering Palestinian scholar, a dedicated activist and journalist, and a lifelong supporter of resistance. I greatly benefited from her historical research and documentary work during my master’s and doctoral studies. She is regarded as one of the most rigorous and objective historians of modern Palestine, particularly the period of British occupation from 1918 to 1948. I first met her about a quarter of a century ago at the Institute for Palestine Studies. Our relationship deepened when I joined Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies in Beirut full-time in 2004. From its founding, she served as a member of the Centre’s Board of Consultants, a staunch supporter of its mission, and a frequent participant in its activities.
Nuwayhed’s Political Leadership and Institutions in Palestine: 1917–1948, published by the Institute for Palestine Studies in 1979 and spanning over 800 pages (also her doctoral dissertation), remains one of the most authoritative Palestinian references on the period of British rule in Palestine. What stood out to me was her fairness and objectivity toward all Palestinian currents and political parties. Her intellectual and ideological background never compromised her scholarly integrity or precision, even in her treatment of nationalists, leftists and the Muslim Brothers (MB)… active in Palestine during that time.
Nuwayhed made a significant contribution to the modern history of Palestine by editing and preparing for publication the volume “Documents of the Palestinian National Movement 1918–1939, from the Papers of Akram Zuaiter,” which was published by the Institute for Palestine Studies in 1979. It remains one of the richest documentary collections on that period. For example, I benefited greatly from it in studying Palestinian documents during the Palestinian Revolt of 1936–1939. The prominent and clear role of the al-Qassam group, especially in northern and central Palestine, stood out strongly, alongside the Islamic jihadi spirit and the genuine Arab nationalist sentiment that marked the statements issued by the rebel leaders. This formed important material for my master’s thesis on “The Islamic Movement in Palestine and Its Impact on the Jihad Movement 1917–1948,” for which the late Akram Zuaiter and Bayan Nuwayhed are credited as key references.
Her important book documenting “Sabra and Shatila: September 1982,” published by the Institute for Palestine Studies in 2003, and of which she kindly gifted me a copy, remains one of the most prominent reference works documenting the massacre and the names of its martyrs. She exerted exceptional effort to refute the Zionist narrative and expose the falsehoods of the Israeli inquiry committee (the Kahan Commission).
Undoubtedly, she made many other contributions that cannot all be listed here. In modern Palestinian history studies, I have found no Palestinian researcher to match her except for the late Dr. Khairiyyah Qasimiyyah.
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Bayan Nuwayhed, born in Jerusalem in 1937, grew up in a scholarly and activist environment. Her father, ‘Ajaj Nuwayhed, who came from Ras al-Matn in Mount Lebanon, was a prominent figure in the Palestinian national movement. He served as Secretary-General of the Supreme Islamic Council in Palestine, chaired by Haj Amin al-Husaini, then as Inspector-General of Sharia Courts. He also participated in founding the Independence Party in 1932 and held a nationalist orientation. A historian and writer, his book “Men From Palestine as I Knew Them” is a key reference on the British occupation period of Palestine. After the 1948 war, he worked as director of Jordanian Radio and settled in Ramallah, then Amman until 1959, before returning to Lebanon to reside there until his death on 25/6/1982.
Nuwayhed’s mother was the poet and writer Jamal Salim. Her maternal uncle was the fighter Fouad Salim, and her cousin was the poet and writer Salma Khadra al-Jayyusi.
Nuwayhed’s husband was the Palestinian (Lebanese) activist Shafiq al-Hout, born in Jaffa in 1932 and displaced to Lebanon after the Nakbah (catastrophe). They married in 1962 and had two daughters, Hanin and Sirin, and a son, Hader. Shafiq served as the Palestine Liberations Organization’s (PLO’s) representative in Lebanon from its founding in 1964 for over a quarter of a century.
He was also a member of the Executive Committee twice; first from 1966 to 1968, and again from 1991 to 1993, resigning in protest over the Oslo Accords. A committed activist, he co-founded the Palestine Liberation Front – The Road to Return in 1963 with a group of comrades. He was also a respected author, intellectual and literary figure. I had the pleasure of getting to know him after the founding of Al-Zaytouna Centre, where he remained an engaged participant and supporter until his passing on 2/8/2009. I will never forget his words to Dr. Husain Abu al-Naml: that Al-Zaytouna Centre “revives the golden era of the [Palestinian] Research Center,” a statement that had a profoundly uplifting effect on us.
Readers of Nuwayhed’s works may notice that her name appears as Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout, combining her father’s and husband’s family names, as is common practice in Lebanon.
Nuwayhed returned to Lebanon between 1948–1951 to continue her studies, then joined her father in Jordan and studied at the Teachers’ College in Ramallah, graduating in 1956. She then worked as a teacher in Amman and joined the Arab Socialist Ba‘ath Party. In 1959, she returned to Lebanon with her father, eventually holding Palestinian, Jordanian and Lebanese nationalities, though she fundamentally rejected the Sykes–Picot Agreements and their consequences. She became active in journalism, contributing to Dunia al-Mar’ah and Al-Sayyad magazines. Disillusioned by the secession of Syria and the collapse of the unity project with Egypt, she withdrew from the Ba‘ath Party. Alongside her husband, she joined the Palestine Liberation Front – The Road to Return. In 1969 she chose to refocus on her graduate studies, becoming a prominent icon of Palestinian memory. After earning her PhD in 1978, she became a professor at the Lebanese University.
She continued her collaboration with the Research Center and Institute For Palestine Studies, co-founded the National Islamic Conference, served on the Board of Directors of the Al-Quds International Institution, and was a member of the Board of Consultants of Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations in Beirut. In 2015, she was awarded the Jerusalem Award for Culture and Creativity.
Nuwayhed remained unwavering in her loyalty to the resistance and its path. In every interaction, she was deeply engaged with the steadfastness and triumphs of the resistance. She was known for her serious, pragmatic nature, which earned respect and admiration wherever she went.
May Allah have mercy on Dr. Bayan Nuwayhed. Her passing marks a profound loss to both the academic and resistance arenas.
Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations, 22/7/2025
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