He grew up in New York City, where his father, a Saudi citizen[6] of Palestinian origin who was born in Jerusalem,[7] worked for the United Nations.

[2] Between 1976 and 1983, Khalidi "was teaching full time as an Assistant Professor in the Political Studies and Public Administration Dept.

at the American University of Beirut, published two books and several articles, and also was a research fellow at the independent Institute for Palestine Studies".

[12] Khalidi was cited in the media during this period, sometimes as an official with the Palestinian News Service, Wafa, or directly with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

He is member of the Board of Sponsors of The Palestine–Israel Journal, a publication founded by Ziad Abuzayyad and Victor Cygielman, prominent Palestinian and Israeli journalists.

He focuses on the countries of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, with an eye to the emergence of various national identities and the role played by external powers in their development.

He also researches the impact of the media, the role of education in the construction of political identity, and the way regional narratives have developed over the past centuries.

[2][failed verification] Michael C. Hudson, director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown, describes Khalidi as "preeminent in his field".

Khalidi's book, Sowing Crisis, places the United States approach to the Middle East in historical context.

He add:The Cold War was over, but its tragic sequels, its toxic debris, and its unexploded mines continued to cause great harm, in ways largely unrecognized in American discourse.

"[29] Khalidi emphasized in his work that the Palestinian identity had been fundamentally fluid and changing, woven from multiple "narratives" due to individual and family experiences.

Praise for his book appeared in the journal Foreign Affairs, with reviewer William B. Quandt viewing the work as "a major contribution to historical understanding of Palestinian nationalism.

[38] He has also been a guest on radio and TV shows including All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, Morning Edition, Worldview, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Charlie Rose, and Nightline, and has appeared on the BBC, the CBC, France Inter and the Voice of America.

He served as president of the American Committee on Jerusalem, now known as the American Task Force on Palestine, and from 1991 to 1993 served as an official advisor to the joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation—later transitioning to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) delegation — during the Middle East peace conference in Madrid and the ensuing Israeli-Palestinian-American negotiations in Washington.

[39][40] Khalidi has written that the establishment of the state of Israel resulted in "the uprooting of the world's oldest and most secure Jewish communities, which had found in the Arab lands a tolerance that, albeit imperfect, was nonexistent in the often genocidal, Jew-hating Christian West."

Regarding the proposed two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Khalidi has written that "the now universally applauded two-state solution faces the juggernaut of Israel's actions in the occupied territories over more than forty years, actions that have been expressly designed to make its realization in any meaningful form impossible."

"[48] Consequent to publication by the Los Angeles Times of an article about Obama's attendance at a 2003 farewell dinner for Khalidi, their relationship became an issue in the campaign.

[52] Rashidi announced his retirement from Columbia University in late June 2024, with the process being finalized on October 8 of the same year.

After the death of a cousin, plans were made to transform it into an extension of the Khalidi library nearby, which holds over 1,200 manuscripts, some as old as the 11th century.