Emile Shukri Habibi ( ar, إميل حبيبي, he, אמיל חביבי, 28 January 1922 – 2 May 1996) was a

Palestinian-Israeli The Arab citizens of Israel are the Demographics of Israel#Arabs, largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizenship law, Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Pales ...

"All Past and Present MKs"
Knesset website writer of Arabic literature and a politician who served as a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

for the communist parties

Maki Maki may refer to: People *Mäki, a Finnish surname (includes a list of people with the name) *Maki (name), a Japanese given name and surname (includes a list of people with the name) Places *Maki, Ravar, Kerman Province, Iran *Maki, Rigan, Ke ...

and Rakah.

Biography

Habibi was born in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the 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 metropol ...

on 28 January 1922, into an Anglican Christian,

Palestinian Arab Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

family. His family had originally belonged to the

Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, el, Πατριαρχεῖον Ἱεροσολύμων, ''Patriarcheîon Hierosolýmōn;'' he, הפטריארכיה היוונית-אורתודוקסית של ירושלים; ar, كنيسة الرو� ...

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 The Palestine Communist Party ( yi, פאלעסטינישע קומוניסטישע פארטיי, ''Palestinische Komunistische Partei'', abbreviated PKP; ar, الحزب الشيوعي الفلسطيني) was a political party in British Mandate ...

. When the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

began, he remained in Haifa and became an

Israeli citizen Israeli citizenship law details the conditions by which a person holds citizenship of Israel. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the 1950 Law of Return and 1952 Citizenship Law. Every Jew in the world has ...

. After the war, he helped to create the

Communist Party of Israel The Israeli Communist Party, commonly known by its Hebrew acronym Maki (), is a communist political party in Israel and forms part of the political alliance known as Hadash. It was originally known as Rakah, an acronym for ''Reshima Komunistit Ha ...

and established the communist paper ''

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

''. In 1956, he moved from Haifa to

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

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."January 2017
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Political career

Habibi was one of the leaders of the

during the Mandate era. He supported the

1947 UN Partition Plan The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as Re ...

. When Israel became a state he helped form the Israeli Communist Party (

). 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 Tawfik Toubi ( ar, توفيق طوبي, he, תופיק טובי, 11 May 1922 – 12 March 2011) was an Israeli Arab communist politician. He was the last surviving member of the first Knesset. Tawfik Toubi was married to Olga Touma and one ...

and

Meir Vilner Meir Vilner ( he, מאיר וילנר, born Bar Kovner; 23 October 1918 – 5 June 2003) was an Israeli communist politician and Jewish leader of the Communist Party of Israel (Maki), at one time a powerful force in the country. He was the yo ...

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 politician who served as the 8th and final 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 The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

." 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 ''The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist'' ( ar, الوقائع الغريبة في اختفاء سعيد أبي النحس المتشائل) is a 1974 satirical fiction book by Emile Habibi. The novel's name comes from merging the Arabic word ...

'', which became a classic in modern Arabic literature. The book depicts the life of a Palestinian, employing

black humour Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

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 shaming ...

. 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 Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

from the

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...

. In 1992, he received the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

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

) 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 novelists Israel Prize in literature recipients Israel Prize in Arabic literature recipients Palestinian novelists Palestinian short story writers Israeli Arab journalists People 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 short story writers