“Be patient, do not rush to make judgments. Be patient, because the picture is not as you see it.” This was the oft-repeated phrase of professor and friend Dr. Mahdi Abdul Hadi to me. I have known him since the 1980s, when I would visit his Wadi al-Joz office, dropping by the offices of the Palestinian Academic Society of International Affairs (PASSIA) looking for a comment from a political analyst for the media. It was not just me; Dr. Abdul Hadi’s office was the address for foreign media and for researchers and diplomats as well.
He was always a reliable reference for analysis and providing a strategic vision—always welcoming, explaining, and providing generous information and interpretation.
We media people and others spent time at the PASSIA offices. During the First Intifada, Mahdi’s office was a national beehive. It was inclusive of all sectors of Jerusalem society and all colors of political life.
The door of Dr. Mahdi’s office, or rather PASSIA’s office, always remained open when it was difficult for us to understand some of the political, factional, local, and even international events. He was the address for so many of us that it was a running comment that PASSIA was the Palestinian Foreign Ministry long before the Palestinian ministry existed, and he was truly the best representative that Palestinians could have explaining our people’s aspirations and challenges.
As the founder and chairman of the board and director of PASSIA, Dr. Mahdi was able to provide space and opportunities for researchers, local and foreign. The place was the first reliable study center of its kind in Jerusalem, and many graduated at his hands. Visiting his office, you would often run into diplomats and young researchers as well as traditional leaders. His was the melting pot in which expertise, diplomacy, and research were fused, for he was an unparalleled component in Jerusalem and will not be matched.