Palestinian Professor Talks Intellectual Legacy at University of Indonesia Public Lecture

October 21, 2025 | 09:09 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The UI Palestine Center (UI PC) in collaboration with UI Students for Justice in Palestine (UI SJP) organized a public lecture on the intellectual legacy of Palestine on Monday, October 20, 2025, at the Science Techno Park Building, University of Indonesia (UI).

The public lecture was presented by Professor Dr. Abdullah al-Fattah El-Awaisi (Al-Maqdisi), F.R.Hist.S, raising the theme of "Beyond 1948 - Reclaiming the Palestinian Intellectual Legacy & Confronting the Intellectual Nakba."

Professor El-Awaisi's visit to Indonesia aimed to emphasize that the colonization of the Muslim world has not only been physical, but also intellectual.

An Invitation to Liberate Oneself

El-Awaisi discussed how the Muslim world is dominated by the dissemination of knowledge about Palestine that was written by Zionist parties.

He underscored the issues present in the curricula of universities in Muslim-majority countries, including Indonesia.

"Indonesia, a country suffering from colonization for 350 years, yet there is no single course taught about Palestine at any Indonesian university. The only thing I can describe it as is this is part of intellectual slavery," he said.

This public lecture at the University of Indonesia took place two months after the arrival of Peter Berkowitz, an American academic of Jewish descent who supports Zionism in Palestine.

After receiving huge backlash, UI apologized for its lack of thorough background checks before inviting speakers, as reported by Tempo.

During the online lecture, El-Awaisi also said that "any politician who advocates a 'two-state solution' does not understand the words that they themselves express."

He urged the people and academic community of Indonesia to help create counter-narratives to resist the "colonization" taking place in the Islamic world.

Prof. El-Awaisi

Professor Dr. Abdullah al-Fattah El-Awaisi (Al-Maqdisi), F.R.Hist.S, is an expert in the field of International Relations.

He is a member of the Royal Historical Society in the UK and the Founder of the Field of Inquiry of Islamic Jerusalem Bayt Al-Maqdis Studies, as reported by Haluan.

He was born in Palestine and was sent to the UK by his parents. Professor El-Awaisi then dedicated his life to the study of Palestine.

In 1986, he obtained his PhD from the University of Exeter in the UK and has worked as a lecturer and researcher in universities in Arab countries, the UK, Malaysia, and Turkey.

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