- Emile Habibi
MKs
Date of birth =21 January 1922
Place of birth =Haifa , Mandate Palestine
Year of Aliyah =
Date of death =2 May 1996
Place of death =
Knesset(s) = 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th
Party = Rakah
Former parties = Maki
Gov't roles =
PalestiniansImil (Emile) Shukri Habibi ( _ar. إميل حبيبي, _he. אמיל חביבי,
21 January 1922 –2 May 1996 ) was aPalestinian -Israeli writer and politician.Political career
Born in
Haifa to aProtestant Palestinian Arab family (his family had originally beenArab Orthodox but converted to Protestantism due to disputes within the Orthodox church), he became one of the leaders of thePalestine Communist Party during the Mandate era. He supported the1947 UN Partition Plan and chose to remain in Haifa until his death, despite it coming underIsrael i control following the1948 Arab-Israeli War .He served in the
Knesset between 1951 and 1959, and again from 1961 until 1972, first as a member of Maki, before breaking away from the party withTawfik Toubi to found Rakah. He left Rakah in 1989.Writing
Habibi began writing short stories in the 1960s, and in 1972 resigned from the Knesset in order to write his first novel: "
The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist ". A classic of modern Arab literature, the book depicts the life of an Israeli Arab, employingblack humour andsatire . He followed this by other books, short stories and a play. His last novel, published in 1992, was "Saraya, the Ogre's Daughter".Writing prizes
In 1990 Habibi received the
Al-Quds Prize from the PLO, while two years later he received theIsrael Prize . [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEFDA1E3EF934A35756C0A964958260&scp=32&sq=Mahmoud%20Darwish&st=cse New York Times] 7 May 1992 "Jerusalem Journal; To a Novelist of Nazareth, Laurels and Loud Boos" by Joel Greenberg] His willingness to accept both reflected his belief in coexistence.Footnotes
External links
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* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=imil+Habibi Books by Imil Habibi]
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