Wikipedia's first sentence called it “diplomat”. Today it says “palestinian writer and diplomat who was a senior political affairs officer for the united nations department of”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Lebanese writer and diplomat”. It now reads “Palestinian writer and diplomat”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Lebanese writer and diplomat For the American playwright, see Ismail Khalidi (writer) . Ismail Ragib Khalidi ( Arabic : إسماعيل راغب الخالدي ; November 13, 1916 – September 2, 1968) was a senior political affairs officer for the United Nations Department of Political Affairs . Khalidi was born in Jerusalem, then still part of the Ottoman Empire , on November 13, 1916. He was the brother of Husayin al-Khalidi , father of Rashid Khalidi and the grandfather of the American playwright, Ismail Khalidi . George's School, Jerusalem and the Arab College (Jerusalem) (1927–1936). In 1939, he received his B.A.in political science from the American University of Beirut . He completed his studies in the United States, receiving an M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1940, and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1955. Rashid Khalidi notes that his father Ismail Khalidi was a studied under Salo Baron at Columbia. His Ph.D. dissertation for Columbia became the book, Constitutional Development in Libya, published in 1956, with an introduction by Adriaan Pelt . He also credits Charles Issawi and J. Hurewitz as having contributed to the creation of the book. At the time of publication, it was the first study conducted in English on the development of the Constitution of Libya (1951) . Khalidi also served as the assistant editor, Middle East Desk, United States Office of War Information from 1942 to 1944, and the Secretary of the Institute for Arab American Affairs from 1945 to 1948. He was an employee at the United Nations for 19 years, joining originally as a radio announcer. He died on September 2, 1968, at the age of 51 in Beirut, Lebanon. Website produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education , University of South Florida ) "Ismail Khalidi, 52, U.N. Americans for Middle East Understanding . Preface to Constitutional Development in Libya, p.v J.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1275950902.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Ismail Khalidi (Ismail Ragib Khalidi) (1916-1968) was a diplomat. He was a senior political affairs officer in the department of political and security council affairs of the United Nations . He earned his PhD in history from Columbia University in 1955. He wrote a book on the constitutional development of Libya . Khalidi was the brother of Husayin al-Khalidi and the father of Rashid Khalidi .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370387029.
The opening as it stood in 2015 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Ismail Ragib Khalidi ( ; 13 November 1916 – 2 September 1968) was a senior political affairs officer for the United Nations Department of Political Affairs .Khalidi was born in Jerusalem, then still part of the Ottoman Empire, on 13 November 1916.He was the brother of Husayin al-Khalidi , father of Rashid Khalidi and the grandfather of the American playwright, Ismail Khalidi (writer) .George's School, Jerusalem and the Arab College (Jerusalem) (1927-1936).In 1939, he received his B.A.in political science from the American University of Beirut .He completed his studies in the United States , receiving an M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1940, and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1955.His Ph.D. dissertation for Columbia became the book, Constitutional Development in Libya, published in 1956, with an introduction by Adriaan Pelt .He also credits Charles Issawi and J.Hurewitz as having contributed to the creation of the book.At the time of publication, it was the first study conducted in English on the development of the Constitution of Libya (1951) .Khalidi also served as the Assistant Editor, Middle East Desk, United States Office of War Information from 1942–44, and the Secretary of the Institute for Arab American Affairs from 1945-48.He was an employee [United Nations]] for 19 years, joining originally as a radio announcer.He died on 2 September 1968 at the age of 51 in Beirut, Lebanon.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667615933.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Ismail Ragib Khalidi ( ; November 13, 1916 – September 2, 1968) was a senior political affairs officer for the United Nations Department of Political Affairs .Khalidi was born in Jerusalem, then still part of the Ottoman Syria, on November 13, 1916. He was the brother of Husayin al-Khalidi , father of Rashid Khalidi and the grandfather of the American playwright, Ismail Khalidi (writer) . George's School, Jerusalem and the Arab College (Jerusalem) (1927-1936). In 1939, he received his B.A.in political science from the American University of Beirut . He completed his studies in the United States , receiving an M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1940, and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1955. His Ph.D. dissertation for Columbia became the book, Constitutional Development in Libya, published in 1956, with an introduction by Adriaan Pelt . He also credits Charles Issawi and J. Hurewitz as having contributed to the creation of the book. At the time of publication, it was the first study conducted in English on the development of the Constitution of Libya (1951) . Khalidi also served as the Assistant Editor, Middle East Desk, United States Office of War Information from 1942–44, and the Secretary of the Institute for Arab American Affairs from 1945-48. He was an employee at the United Nations for 19 years, joining originally as a radio announcer.He died on September 2, 1968 at the age of 51 in Beirut, Lebanon.Website produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education , University of South Florida ) "Ismail Khalidi, 52, U.N.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 960204995.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Ismail Ragib Khalidi ( ; November 13, 1916 – September 2, 1968) was a senior political affairs officer for the United Nations Department of Political Affairs . Khalidi was born in Jerusalem, then still part of the Ottoman Syria, on November 13, 1916. He was the brother of Husayin al-Khalidi , father of Rashid Khalidi and the grandfather of the American playwright, Ismail Khalidi (writer) . George's School, Jerusalem and the Arab College (Jerusalem) (1927–1936). In 1939, he received his B.A.in political science from the American University of Beirut . He completed his studies in the United States, receiving an M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1940, and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1955. His Ph.D. dissertation for Columbia became the book, Constitutional Development in Libya, published in 1956, with an introduction by Adriaan Pelt . He also credits Charles Issawi and J. Hurewitz as having contributed to the creation of the book. At the time of publication, it was the first study conducted in English on the development of the Constitution of Libya (1951) . Khalidi also served as the assistant editor, Middle East Desk, United States Office of War Information from 1942 to 1944, and the Secretary of the Institute for Arab American Affairs from 1945 to 1948. He was an employee at the United Nations for 19 years, joining originally as a radio announcer. He died on September 2, 1968, at the age of 51 in Beirut, Lebanon. Website produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education , University of South Florida ) "Ismail Khalidi, 52, U.N.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1173607428.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “diplomat”. Today it says “palestinian writer and diplomat who was a senior political affairs officer for the united nations department of”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Lebanese writer and diplomat”. It now reads “Palestinian writer and diplomat”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
diplomat
Now
palestinian writer and diplomat who was a senior political affairs officer for the united nations department of
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.