Odeh Bisharat

Odeh Bisharat (Hebrew: עודה בשאראת; Arabic: عودة بشارات; born 1958) is an Arab Israeli journalist, writer, and social activist. He publishes opinion columns in Haaretz and Al-Ittihad.

Youth and education

Bisharat was born in 1958[1] in Yafa an-Naseriyye. His family had been displaced from Ma'alul, an Arab village destroyed by Israeli forces in the 1948 Palestine war.[2]

Bisharat was active in the "communist youth movement", according to Israel Hayom.[3]

He obtained a doctorate in biology.[2]

Teacher, writer and activist

Bisharat became a high school teacher. As of 2022, he continued as a teacher.[2]

Bisharat's political activities continued during his university studies. He attributes his view "that Jews and Arabs are not enemies" to his communist background.[3] Bisharat was an editor for the Arabic youth magazine Al-J'ad and columnist for Arabic newspaper Al-Ittihad.[4]

He contributes to other Arabic language sources and has a weekly opinion column in Haaretz.[3] He advocates for understanding and peaceful coexistence in Palestine and is critical of the Israeli government.[4] His writing aims at improving understanding between different cultures in the Near East. He has appeared in TV shows broadcast by Channel 12 and i24 TV.[5]

During the 2011 Israeli social justice protests, Jewish protest organisers invited Odeh Bisharat to speak at a rally of 300,000 people, where he stated, "It's time for this struggle to [be the] struggle of all those being exploited, Jews and Arabs."[6]: 34, 35 

Many of his articles are translated and published in foreign media, such as Boston Review, Goethe-Institut or in the Jewish Voice for Labour.[7][8][9]

He has written several novels.[2] He was the 2016 resident for the University of Iowa's International Writing Program.[10] In 2017, he was given an award by the Ministry of Culture and Sport for "outstanding contributions to prose". He was a resident author at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies from 2023 to 2024.[5]

Political affiliation

Bisharat has been the Secretary General of the Hadash political coalition.[1] He was still a member in 2011.[6]: 34 

Literary works

Eithan Orkibi of Israel Hayom described Bisharat's novels The Streets of Zatunya and Dunya, whose themes include the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, as political satires. Dunya includes a theme of the communist party playing a role in opposition to the Israeli government. Bisharat stated that an aim of his novels was to provide nuanced understanding of expulsion to the young generation of Arabs in Israel.[3]

Bisharat described his view of literature, stating "For me, literature isn't political, it isn't a position paper" and that he considered it appropriate that his writing shows weaknesses and flaws in Arab culture, as part of "the internal discourse in a society that the other side identifies with".[3]

  • The streets of Zatunya (novel), 2007, translated into Hebrew and Finnish
  • Dunya (novel), 2015, translated into Hebrew
  • Play in Arabic, 2017
  • Late Tammam Makehoul (novel), 2018
  • Journey in the Realty of the Absurd, Scenes from Israeli Palestinians Life, 2018, ISBN 9789659229727
  • Don't Steal My Turn (children's book)[11]

Personal life

Bisharat lives with his two sons, a daughter and his wife in Yafa an-Naseriyye.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Odeh Bisharat, Berlin International Literature Festival, July 2024, Wikidata Q136543922, archived from the original on 20 October 2025
  2. ^ a b c d e Tal, Ronen (January 25, 2022). "'A Jew Who Only Arrived Yesterday to Israel Is More of a Landlord Than You'". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 2022-08-09. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e Eithan Orkibi (11 May 2019). "A shtetl in the Arab Galilee". Israel Hayom. Wikidata Q136720756. Archived from the original on 6 November 2025.
  4. ^ a b Haaretz (Opinion): As Piers Morgan Said, if Palestinians Must Leave Gaza, Why Shouldn't Israelis Leave Israel?, 4 August 2025
  5. ^ a b "Odeh Bisharat". Israel Institute for Advanced Studies. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
  6. ^ a b Back to basics: Israel's Arab minority and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict – Middle East Report N°119 (PDF), International Crisis Group, 14 March 2012, Wikidata Q136543653, archived (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2025
  7. ^ Boston Review: A Turning Point in Israel, 25 September 2018
  8. ^ Goethe-Institut Mexico: Corona – bekämpft und instrumentalisiert, translated by Antje Eiger, June 2020
  9. ^ Jewish Voice for Labour: The Writing Was on the Wall, 10 Oct 2023
  10. ^ "BISHARAT, Odeh". University of Iowa. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
  11. ^ The Israeli Institute for Hebrew Literature: Don't Steal My Turn, retrieved on 17 October 2025
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