The Modern Novel

Biography

Emile Habiby (also Emile Habibi) was born in Haifa, in 1922. His family were Anglican. He worked on a on oil refinery and as a radio announcer and then became one of the leaders of the Palestinian Communist Party. After the 1948 nakba, he stayed in Israel and, eventually, he became an Israeli citizen. He helped found the Israeli Communist Party and became a member of the Knesset for that party and, later, for a breakaway party called Rakah. He left the party in1991 over disputes relating to how deal with Gorbachev’s policies. He subsequently achieved fame as a writer, writing novels, stories and plays, though was criticised for accepting the Israeli Prize. He died in 1996.

Other links

Emile Habibi
Emile Habiby: A Palestinian Writer in the Context of Israeli Culture
Obituary