Tawfiq Zayyad

Tawfiq Zayyad (1929-1994) was a Palestinian poet, a member of the Knesset and the elected mayor of Nazareth from 1975-1994. As a leader of the Israeli Communist Party, he represented both Jewish and Arab working-class communities, and was the spokesman for a secular and egalitarian political tradition opposed to both Zionism and Islamic fundamentalism. Zayyad was arrested and imprisoned several times by the Israeli authorities and on one occasion he was tortured. His report on Israeli prison conditions and the use of torture on Palestinian prisoners was later quoted in a UN General Assembly report. He published several books of poetry, including I Clasp Your Hands, Songs of the Revolution and Anger and Fighting Words. Many of his poems were turned into well-known popular songs. Recognised today as one of the leading poets of his generation – alongside writers like Mahmoud Darwish, Hanna Abu and Salem Jubran – Zayyad translated Nazm Hikmet into Arabic and published a book about Palestinian folk-lore. He died in a car-crash in 1994 on his way to Nazareth after welcoming Yasser Arafat back from exile.