Dr. Sharabi and a small group of Georgetown faculty members and Washington area colleagues, concerned about the evident lack of knowledge and understanding of the Arab world, co-founded the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, the only institution in the United States focusing solely in the study of the Arab world. His numerous publications, in both English and Arabic, included studies of Arab intellectual, government and politics in the Arab world, Arab nationalist movements, and the Palestine problem.
He was also one of the principal founders, in 1997, of the Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development, an organization dedicated to educational, cultural, health and community assistance for Palestinian society and established, in 1991, the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine to represent a Palestinian perspective in Washington, DC. He also served as editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies.
Dr. Sharabi was immersed in the tragedy of the Palestinian people. He spoke out regularly on what he and others saw as the injustices inflicted upon them through the establishment of the state of Israel and the subsequent policies of Israel and the United States. He did not hesitate to criticize Palestinian leaders and Arab governments as well. He devoted immense energy to developing Palestinian studies to ensure that the history, culture, and politics of his people be thoroughly investigated and disseminated to new generations of Palestinians and Arabs and to the Western world as well.
