His father, Ahmad Samih Khalidi, was dean of the Arab College of Jerusalem, and hailed from a family with roots in pre-Crusader Palestine. His step mother, Anbara Salam Khalidi (Arabic: عنبرة سلام الخالدي‎) (4 August 1897–May 1986), was a Lebanese feminist, translator and author, who significantly contributed to the emancipation of Arab women. Khalidi's early tutor was the director of Education in Palestine, G. B. Farrell.[3] His half-brothers are the historian Tarif Khalidi and biochemist Usama al-Khalidi.