Edward W Said, 67, professor of comparative literature at Columbia University and leading spokesman in the United States for the Palestinian cause, died in a New York hospital on Thursday, according to reports.

He was suffering from leukaemia.

Born in 1935 in Jerusalem -- then part of British-ruled Palestine -- Said spent almost all his life in the US. He wrote passionately about the Palestinian cause and on a variety of other subjects -- from English literature, his academic specialty, to music and culture.

His books include Orientalism, The Question of Palestine, After the Last Sky and The End of the Peace Process.

He was a member of the Palestinian National Council but he broke with Palestine Liberation Organisation chief Yasser Arafat in the belief that the 1993 Oslo peace accords betrayed Palestinian refugees.

He opposed a segregated two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, proposing an integrated, democratic country instead.