Emile Shukri Habibi (, ; 28 January 1922 – 2 May 1996) was a Palestinian-Israeli writer of Arabic literature and a politician who served as a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

for the communist parties Maki and Rakah.

Biography

Habibi was born in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

on 28 January 1922 into an Anglican Christian, Palestinian Arab family. His father originated in Shefa-Amr. The family had originally belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem but converted to Anglicanism due to disputes within the Orthodox church. In his early life, he worked on an oil refinery and later was a radio announcer. Under the Mandate he became one of the leaders of the Palestine Communist Party. When the 1948 Arab-Israeli War began, he remained in Haifa and became an Israeli citizen. After the war, he helped to create the

Communist Party of Israel The Communist Party of Israel, commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviations, Hebrew abbreviation Maki (), is a Communist party, communist political party in Israel that forms part of the political alliance known as Hadash. It was founded in 1965 as ...

and established the communist paper '' Al-Ittihad''. In 1956, he moved from Haifa to

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

and remained there for the rest of his life. He died in 1996 in Nazareth, but in his will, he expressed his wish to be buried in his beloved home, Haifa. His will also asked that his tombstone include the phrase "remained in Haifa."

Political career

Habibi was one of the leaders of the Palestine Communist Party during the Mandate era. He supported the 1947 UN Partition Plan. When Israel became a state he helped form the Israeli Communist Party ( Maki). He served in the

between 1951 and 1959, and again from 1961 until 1972, first as a member of Maki, before breaking away from the party with Tawfik Toubi and Meir Vilner to found Rakah. In 1991, after a conflict about how the party should deal with the new policies of

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

, he left the party.

Journalism and literary writings

"Habibi became one of the most popular authors in the Middle East as a result of works depicting the conflicts in loyalties experienced by Palestinians living as an Arab minority in the Jewish state of Israel. In such works as ''Strange Events in the Disappearance of Said Abu al-Nahs al-Mutashael'' (1974), the most notable of his seven novels, he explored the duality of those Arabs who, like himself, did not leave their homeland during the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli war." Habibi began writing short stories in the 1950s, and his first story, ''The Mandelbaum Gate'' was published in 1954, though he did not resume literary writing until the late 1960s. In 1972 he resigned from the Knesset in order to write his first novel: '' The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist'', which became a classic in modern Arabic literature. The book depicts the life of a Palestinian, employing black humour and

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

. It was based on the traditional anti-hero Said in Arab literature. In a playful way it deals with how it is for Arabs to live in Israel, and how one who has nothing to do with politics is drawn into it. He followed this by other books, short stories and a play. His last novel, published in 1992, was ''Saraya, the Ogre's Daughter''. In it he has a character state:

"There is no difference between Christian and Muslim: we are all Palestinian in our predicament"

Literary prizes

In 1990, Habibi received the Al-Quds Prize from the PLO. In 1992, he received the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

for Arabic literature. His willingness to accept both reflected his belief in coexistence, though his acceptance of the Israel Prize set off a debate among the Arabic intellectual community. Habibi was accused of legitimizing what they considered Israel's "anti-Arab" policy. Habibi replied to the accusations: "A dialogue of prizes is better than a dialogue of stones and bullets," he said. "It is indirect recognition of the Arabs in Israel as a nation. This is recognition of a national culture. It will help the Arab population in its struggle to strike roots in the land and win equal rights".

Published works

1969: ''Sudāsiyyat al-ayyām al-sittah'' 1974: ''Al-Waqāʾiʿ al-gharībah fī 'khtifāʾ Saʿīd Abī 'l-Naḥsh al-Mutashāʾil'' (translated as The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist) 1976: ''Kafr Qāsim'' (''Kafr Kassem'') 1980: ''Lakʿ bin Lakʿ'' (play) 1991: ''Khurāfiyyat Sarāyā Bint al-Ghūl'' (translated as '' Saraya, the Ogre's Daughter'')

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Habibi, Emile 1922 births 1996 deaths Arab members of the Knesset Arabic-language novelists Israeli Christian socialists Israeli Arab Christians Israeli Christians Israeli novelists Israel Prize in literature recipients Israel Prize in Arabic literature recipients Palestinian novelists Palestinian short story writers Israeli Arab journalists Israeli journalists Writers from Haifa Politicians from Haifa Maki (historical political party) politicians Maki (political party) politicians 20th-century novelists Members of the 2nd Knesset (1951–1955) Members of the 3rd Knesset (1955–1959) Members of the 5th Knesset (1961–1965) Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969) Members of the 7th Knesset (1969–1974) 20th-century Israeli short story writers Arab people in Mandatory Palestine