Emile Habibi

Emile Habibi was born in Haifa into an Arab Christian family and became a founding leader of the Communist Party of Israel (Maki), editing the crusading Arabic newspaper Al-Ittihad for decades and serving as a member of the Knesset from 1951 to 1972, fiercely defending the civil and national rights of Palestinian citizens.

In 1974, Habibi published his modernist comic masterpiece, The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist (Al-Waqa'i al-Ghariba fi Ikhtifa' Sa'id Abi al-Nahs al-Mutasha'il), blending Voltairean satire with classical Arabic saj' prose to depict Palestinian survival under military administration. Per his explicit will, his tombstone in Haifa carries the simple, defiant epitaph: 'Remained in Haifa'.