Patrick Abram Seale (7 May 1930 – 11 April 2014) was a British journalist^[1] and author who specialised in the Middle East. A former correspondent for The Observer, he interviewed many Middle Eastern leaders and personalities. Seale was also a literary agent and art dealer.

Patrick Abram Seale^[2] was a Belfast-born journalist.^[1] His father was Morris Siegel Seale (1896–1993), the Arabist and theologian, who was a Russian Jewish convert to Presbyterianism and Christian missionary in Syria, where Patrick spent most of his first 14 years. Seale's mother was Reine Attal, a Tunisian-Italian midwife.^[3][4] Seale attended Balliol and St Antony's College, Oxford, where he specialised in Middle Eastern history.^[5] He obtained his D.Litt. at Oxford University. His sister was the fashion designer Thea Porter.

His journalistic experience includes six years with Reuters, mainly as a financial journalist, and over twelve with The Observer, covering the Middle East, Africa, and India.

Based in France, Seale was syndicated by Agence Global.^[6] His columns appeared in most major newspapers around the world, and were carried weekly by several newspapers, including Al-Hayat (London), Al-Ittihad (Abu Dhabi), The Daily Star (Beirut), The Saudi Gazette (Jeddah) and Gulf News (Dubai).

Seale married twice. First to Lamorna Heath in 1971 (died 1978) by whom he had a child, Orlando. His second wife, the writer and broadcaster Rana Kabbani, was the mother of his younger children, journalist Alexander Seale and writer and translator Yasmine Seale.^[7]

Patrick Seale died aged 83 on 11 April 2014 in London from brain cancer.^[7]

Seale authored numerous books,^[8] including:

• The Struggle for Syria (1965)
• French Revolution 1968 (1968)
• Philby, the Long Road to Moscow (1973)
• The Hilton Assignment (1973)
• Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East (1988)
• Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire (1992)
• The Struggle for Arab Independence: Riad el-Solh and the Makers of the Modern Middle East (2010)