Emile Habibi; Arab Novelist Lauded by PLO and Israel

Emile Habibi, 73, an Arab novelist who won literary awards from both the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. A co-founder of the Communist Party in pre-state Palestine in the 1940s, Habibi edited the party newspaper, Al Ittihad, for more than four decades. He was a member of the Israeli parliament from 1952 to 1972 and became a writer after he heard a speech to the legislative body berating Israel for having little native literature. The best known of his six books was “The Op-simist” published in 1972, which focuses on the conflicting emotions of Israeli Arabs who are citizens of Israel but also have a Palestinian identity. His sensitive work was recognized by the PLO in 1990 and he won the prestigious Israel Prize in 1992. On Thursday in Nazareth, Israel, of pancreatic cancer.