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Tawfiq Ziad

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Tawfiq Ziad
Faction represented in the Knesset
1973–1977Rakah
1977–1990Hadash
1992–1994Hadash
Personal details
Born7 May 1929
Nazareth, Mandatory Palestine
Died5 July 1994(1994-07-05) (aged 65)
Jordan Valley, West Bank

Tawfiq Ziad (Arabic: توفيق زيّاد, romanized: Tawfīq Ziyyād; Hebrew: תאופיק זיאד, romanized: Ta'ufík Ziyád; 7 May 1929 – 5 July 1994), also romanized Tawfik Zayyad or Tawfeeq Ziad, was a Palestinian-Arab politician, poet, and activist who served in Israel's Knesset. He is best known for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinian citizens of Israel.[1][2]

Biography

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Born in Nazareth, Palestine during the Mandatory Palestine, Ziad was active in communist circles since his youth. His nom de guerre was Abū l-Amīn (أبو الأمين, 'the Trustworthy One').[citation needed] Ignoring the strict restrictions on movement of Arabs during Israeli military rule, he played an important role in calling a tax revolt, student strike, and agricultural workers’ strike in the Galilee. He was arrested at Arrabeh on 24 April 1954, and confined to Nazareth for half a year and therefore subject to restrictions on his personal freedom of movement.[3] Under Israeli military rule (1948-1966) he was arrested and imprisoned several times.[4] Between 1962 and 1964 he was educated at the Higher Party School in Moscow.[5]

After returning home, he was elected mayor of Nazareth on 9 December 1975, as the leader of the communist Rakah party in the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality coalition,[6] a victory that is said to have "surprised and alarmed" Israelis and which was hailed a significant event in the political history of the Palestinian community inside Israel.[2][7] Ziad would serve as mayor for 19 years, until his 1994 death in office.[8]

Elected to the Knesset in the 1973 elections on Rakah's list, Ziad was active in pressuring the Israeli government to change its policies towards Arabs. A report he co-authored on Israeli prison conditions which claimed torture of terrorists in Israeli prisons was reprinted in the Israeli newspaper Al HaMishmar. It was also submitted to the United Nations by Tawfik Toubi, and 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."[9]

Poetry

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The theme of sumud, which became a major literary theme as a form of "resistance", played an important role in Ziad's poetry.[10][11] He is particularly well known for his poem Here We Will Stay:

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 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.[12]

Death

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Ziad died 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.[8] He was survived by his wife and four children. At the time of his sudden death, he was still Mayor of Nazareth, a member of the Knesset and "a leading Arab legislator". A street is named after him in Shefa-'Amr.[citation needed]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ Gerlitz, Ron (2 February 2021). "A revolutionary Palestinian poet who saw Jews as brothers". Haaretz. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Rakah Victory in Nazareth". Journal of Palestine Studies. 5 (3/4): 178–180. 1976. doi:10.2307/2536027. ISSN 0377-919X. JSTOR 2536027.
  3. ^ Kanaaneh, Hatim (19 December 2020). "Sumud, crucifixion, and poetry: The life of Palestinian leader Tawfiq Zayyad". Mondoweiss. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  4. ^ Sorek 2020, p. 37-40
  5. ^ Sorek 2020, p. 55-56
  6. ^ Beinin, Joel (28 July 2023). "A century after its founding, the Israeli Communist Party is at a crossroads". +972 Magazine. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  7. ^ Matar, Dina (2011). What it Means to be Palestinian: Stories of Palestinian Peoplehood. I.B.Tauris. p. 82. doi:10.5040/9780755610891. ISBN 978-0-7556-1460-8.
  8. ^ a b "Tawfik Ziad, 65, Mayor of Nazareth". The New York Times. The Associated Press. 6 July 1994. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Report of the Special Committee To Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories". United Nations General Assembly. 23 December 1987.[permanent dead link‍]
  10. ^ Elmessiri, Abdelwahab M. (Spring 1981). "The Palestinian Wedding: Major Themes of Contemporary Palestinian Resistance Poetry". Journal of Palestine Studies. 10 (3): 77-99, 93-94. doi:10.2307/2536461. JSTOR 2536461.
  11. ^ Furani, Khaled (Spring 2013). "Dangerous Weddings: Palestinian Poetry Festivals during Israel's First Military Rule". The Arab Studies Journal. 21 (1): 79-100, 81-82. JSTOR 41968269.
  12. ^ Ghanim, Honaida (March 2009). "Poetics of Disaster: Nationalism, Gender, and Social Change Among Palestinian Poets in Israel After Nakba". International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society. 22 (1): 23-39, 37. doi:10.1007/s10767-009-9049-9. JSTOR 40608203.

References

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