Tawfiq Ziad

MKs


Date of birth = 7 May 1929
Place of birth = Nazareth, Mandate Palestine
Year of Aliyah =
Date of death = 5 July 1994
Place of death = Jordan Valley
Knesset(s) = 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th
Party = Hadash
Former parties = Rakah
Gov't roles =

Tawfiq Ziad ( _ar. توفيق زيّاد, _he. תאופיק זיאד, also spelt Tawfik Zayyad, 7 May 1929 – 5 July 1994) was an Arab Israeli, well-known for his "poetry of protest". Born in the Galilee, Zayyad studied literature in Russia. [cite book|title=Palestine: A Guide|author=Mariam Shahin|publisher=Interlink Books|year=2005|isbn=156656557X|page=44] After returning home, he was elected mayor of Nazareth on 9 December 1973, as head of Rakah, a communist party, a victory that is said to have "surprised and alarmed" Israelis. [cite web|title=Rakah Victory in Nazareth|publisher=Journal of Palestine Studies|date=Spring - Summer, 1976, Vol. 5, No. 3/4|page=178 - 180|url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0377-919X(197621%2F22)5%3A3%2F4%3C178%3ARVIN%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2]

Politics

Elected to the Knesset in the 1973 elections on Rakah's list, Ziad was active is pressuring the Israeli government to change its policies towards Arabs - both those inside Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories. A report he co-authored on Israeli prison conditions and the use of torture on Palestinian inmates was reprinted in the Israeli newspaper Al HaMishmar. It was also submitted to the United Nations by Tawfiq Toubi and Tawfiq Ziad after their visit to Al-Far'ah prison on 29 October 1987. It was subsequently quoted from at length in a UN General Assembly report dated 23 December 1987, where it was described as, "Perhaps the best evidence of the truth of the reports describing the repugnant inhumane conditions endured by Arab prisoners." [cite web|title=Report of the Special Committee To Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories|author=General Assembly|publisher=United Nations|date=23 December 1987|url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/7d840be973b61252052567fa0053fc31!OpenDocument]

Early death

At the time of his sudden death, he was still the Mayor of Nazareth, a member of the Israeli Knesset, and "a leading Arab legislator". He was killed on 5 July 1994 in a head-on collision in the Jordan Valley on his way back to Nazareth from Jericho after welcoming Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, back from exile. [cite web|title=Tawfik Ziad, 65, Mayor of Nazareth, Obituary|publisher=New York Times|date=6 July 1994|url=http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=per&v1=ZIAD%2C%20TAWFIK&sort=newest]

Poetry

Tawfiq Ziad’s poetry was deeply moving, intensely political, and proudly nationalistic. Some examples of his work include: "Pagan Fire", "Passing Remark", "They Know", "Here We Will Stay", and "All I Have".

In "Here We Will Stay", Ziad writes: In Lydda, in Ramla, in the Galilee, we shall remain like a wall upon your chest, and in your throat like a shard of glass, a cactus thorn, and in your eyes a sandstorm. We shall remain a wall upon your chest, clean dishes in your restaurants, serve drinks in your bars, sweep the floors of your kitchens to snatch a bite for our children from your blue fangs. Here we shall stay, sing our songs, take to the angry streets, fill prisons with dignity. In Lydda, in Ramla, in the Galilee, we shall remain, guard the shade of the fig and olive trees, ferment rebellion in our children as yeast in the dough.

In "All I Have", Ziad writes: [ [http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/1324/ziad.htm Here We Will Stay] ] I never carried a rifle On my shoulder Or pulled a trigger. All I have Is a flute's melody A brush to paint my dreams, A bottle of ink. All I have Is unshakeable faith And an infinite love For my people in pain.

Legacy

There is a street named Tawfiq Ziad Street in Shefa-'Amr.

References

External links

* [http://www.zayyad.com/ Tawfiq Ziad home page (in Arabic)]
* [http://toarab.net/poet32.html (Poetry in arabic)