Birth: NULL/NULL/1938 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Fassuta, Galilee, in 1938; studied Law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem from 1957; was a member in the Arab Student Council and one of the founders of Al-Ard movement (literally meaning ‘The Land’, a group of Israeli Arabs in the Galilee protesting against Israeli expropriation policies); was many times interrogated over his activities in those groups; after graduation, opened a law firm in Haifa, focusing on Arab rights; wrote a memorandum to the UN about the discrimination against Arabs in Israel; maintained connections with Fateh, especially after 1967, and became a member; was held in Israeli administrative detention on suspicion of security offenses after the War of 1967; released on condition that he leave the country; in 1975, was sent by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat together with Issam Sartawi to Washington to open an office to represent the Palestinian people (both were deported from the soon after); worked at the PLO’s Research Center in Beirut, first in charge of the Israeli affairs file, then becoming its Director in 1978; in 1976/77, met together with Issam Sartawi the Israelis Mattiyahu Peled, Uri Avneri, and Arie Lova Eliav for secret peace talks in Europe and the US (for which he and Eliav later were awarded a peace prize by Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky); editor of the PLO monthly journal Shu’un Filastiniya in Beirut; was probably the first PLO figure to propose a “compromise” peace with Israel; agreed with the idea of the two-state solution when it was first raised; in 1983, his wife was killed by a car bomb in Beirut apparently intended for him; moved the PLOs Research Center to Tunis, then to Cyprus, where he directed it for 10 years; supported the Oslo process from its outset; since his return in 1994, continues his work from Gaza and Ramallah; member in the PNC; restored his Israeli citizenship; appears frequently as a commentator on Israel TV; has written extensively on Israeli affairs and Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, incl. his famous book The Arabs in Israel (New York, 1976).
