 Edward W. Said was born on 1 November 1935 , to Hilda Said and Wadir Said , a businessman , in Jerusalem in the British Mandate of Palestine . Wadir Said , a native Palestinian , was an Arab Christian man who soldiered in the U.S. Army component of the American Expeditionary Forces ( 1917 – 19 ) , commanded by General John J. Pershing , in the First World War ; that war @-@ time military service granted Said père U.S. citizenship to him and to family . His mother Hilda was born to a Lebanese mother and raised in Nazareth . 
