JERUSALEM — Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi is an unlikely advocate for peace between Palestinians and Israelis. He trained as a guerrilla with the Palestine Liberation Organization, was banned from Israel for 25 years because of his prominent role in Yasir Arafat’s Fatah group, and still refers to Israelis as “my enemy.”
But Mr. Dajani, now the library director and a professor of American studies at Al-Quds University, in East Jerusalem, has become a prominent activist for tolerance.
In 2007, he founded Wasatia (“moderation” in Arabic), a group that promotes the Muslim tradition of compromise and nonviolence. His chosen path has already led him to a lonely stand opposing an academic boycott of Israel supported by most of his Palestinian peers.