Mr. Falah is a Bedouin. He grew up in Galilee, in a hamlet without electricity or running water. He spent his boyhood writing out school assignments by oil lamp.

Those origins defined his early scholarly career. After taking two degrees at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mr. Falah, 54, pursued a Ph.D. in geography at the University of Durham, in England. There he wrote his dissertation on the process by which the Bedouin people of Galilee had surrendered their nomadic lifestyle over the previous 100 years.

While at Durham, he befriended another doctoral student with ties to Israel — David Newman, the son of a British rabbi, who planned an academic career in Israel. They shared the same adv...

Mr. Falah is a Bedouin. He grew up in Galilee, in a hamlet without electricity or running water. He spent his boyhood writing out school assignments by oil lamp.

Those origins defined his early scholarly career. After taking two degrees at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mr. Falah, 54, pursued a Ph.D. in geography at the University of Durham, in England. There he wrote his dissertation on the process by which the Bedouin people of Galilee had surrendered their nomadic lifestyle over the previous 100 years.

While at Durham, he befriended another doctoral student with ties to Israel — David Newman, the son of a British rabbi, who planned an academic career in Israel. They shared the same adviser, Gerald H. Blake, and a similar outlook on Israeli geography.

Many Israeli geographers in the preceding generation had been trained in Israel or participated in the building of the state. But Mr. Falah and Mr. Newman were part of a new wave, trained outside of Israel, whose views were more critical of national policies.

When Mr. Falah returned home, in 1982, he was the first Israeli Arab to hold a Ph.D. in geography. He assumed that he would enjoy a long career in Israel's universities. But he soon found that the world he was entering was both small and stubborn.