Tawfiq Ziad
Tawfiq Ziad (Arabic: توفيق زيّاد, romanized: Tawfīq Ziyyād; Hebrew: תאופיק זיאד, romanized: Ta'ufík Ziyád; 7 May 1929 – 5 July 1994), also romanized Tawfik Zayyad or Tawfeeq Ziad, was a Palestinian politician, poet, and activist who served in Israel's Knesset. He is best known for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Tawfiq Ziad

Beni Birk / Photographer: Israel Press and Photo Agency (I.P.P.A.) / Dan Hadani collection, National Library of Israel / CC BY 4.0 · This image is available from National Library of Israel under the digital ID: 004045913 (990040459130205171) · CC BY 4.0
- Born
- 1929.
- Died
- 1994.
- Nationality
- Mandatory Palestine.
- Occupation
- poet, politician, writer and opinion journalist.
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Tawfiq Ziad (Arabic: توفيق زيّاد, romanized: Tawfīq Ziyyād; Hebrew: תאופיק זיאד, romanized: Ta'ufík Ziyád; 7 May 1929 – 5 July 1994), also romanized Tawfik Zayyad or Tawfeeq Ziad, was a Palestinian politician, poet, and activist who served in Israel's Knesset. He is best known for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
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Tawfiq Ziad (1929–1994) was an opinion journalist, poet and politician, among other activities and a national of Mandatory Palestine. Born in Nazareth, the opinion journalist died in Jordan Valley. Tawfiq Ziad worked in Jerusalem and Nazareth.
Languages used include Arabic, English and Hebrew. The opinion journalist received Order of Jerusalem for Culture, Arts and Literature.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q968637 · wikipedia · Tawfiq Ziad
In this article
Biography
Biography
Born in Nazareth during the British Mandate, Ziad was active in the Israeli communist party. His nom de guerre was Abū l-Amīn (Arabic: أبو الأمين). As an activist, he helped to organize a protest on taxation, a student strike and an agricultural workers’ strike in the Galilee. He was arrested in April 1954 and confined to Nazareth for half a year. Over the years he was arrested and imprisoned several times. In 1962–1964, he moved to Moscow to study at Higher Party School. In December 1975, Ziad was elected mayor of Nazareth, serving as leader of the Communist party of Israel in the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality coalition. It was an appointment that was hailed a significant event in Israeli Palestinian political history. Ziad would serve as mayor for 19 years, until his 1994 death in office. Elected to the Knesset in the 1973 elections on Rakah's list, Ziad was active in pressuring the Israeli government to change its policies towards Arabs. A report he co-authored on Israeli prison conditions which said torture of prisoners in Israeli prisons was reprinted in the Israeli newspaper Al HaMishmar. It was also submitted to the United Nations by Tawfik Toubi, and Ziad after their visit to Al-Far'ah prison on 29 October 1987. It was subsequently quoted from at length in a UN General Assembly report dated 23 December 1987, where it was described as "Perhaps the best evidence of the truth of the reports describing the repugnant inhumane conditions endured by Arab prisoners."
Political views and positions
Political views and positions
Ziad consistently identified as a communist and remained committed to Marxist political principles throughout his public life. As a leading figure in Maki and later Hadash, he advanced a political program grounded in class struggle, socialist internationalism, and opposition to ethnic nationalism, while advocating full civil and national rights for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Contemporary observers and later commentators have described his ideological stance as unusually consistent within Israeli parliamentary politics, noting that he did not substantially moderate his communist positions despite long-term participation in electoral and municipal institutions. Central to Ziad’s political outlook was the principle of Jewish–Arab partnership based on shared material and class interests rather than ethnic or religious identity. In a retrospective analysis published in the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, historian Tamir Sorek describes Ziad as a leading proponent of a universalist communist framework that linked Palestinian national rights with democratic struggle inside Israel, rejecting both Zionist exclusivism and separatist nationalism in favor of sustained joint political action. Similar assessments appear in English-language retrospective commentary, which emphasizes Ziad’s long-standing commitment to Jewish–Arab political partnership as a central feature of his ideological approach. Ziad’s commitment to the Palestinian cause was frequently described by commentators and scholars in terms of sumud (steadfastness), a concept emphasizing long-term presence, political organization, and resistance through civic and institutional means rather than armed struggle. This form of steadfastness was particularly evident during the events surrounding Land Day in 1976. Ziad, then Mayor of Nazareth, publicly opposed attempts by government-aligned officials to cancel the general strike protesting land expropriations in the Galilee. Contemporary reporting and historical overviews describe Land Day as a major turning point in the collective political mobilization of Palestinian citizens of Israel and the first nationwide general strike of the Arab population within the state. According to an essay by Meir Vilner, then General Secretary of Maki, published in the party’s Hebrew-language journal Arakhim in 1996, Ziad played a decisive leadership role in resisting pressure on Arab local authorities to abandon the strike and argued that it reflected the genuine mood of the Arab public rather than the positions of government-appointed intermediaries. Independent journalistic retrospectives likewise emphasize Ziad’s prominence during Land Day as central to consolidating his reputation as a leading symbol of Palestinian political steadfastness pursued through Israeli institutional politics. During his tenure as a member of the Knesset, Ziad was an outspoken critic of Israeli government policies toward Arab citizens, particularly land expropriation, unequal municipal funding, and planning restrictions, as well as Israel’s policies in the Israeli-occupied territories. His positions aligned closely with those of Hadash and the Israeli Communist Party, including opposition to occupation and support for a negotiated political resolution based on equality and national self-determination. These positions are documented both in retrospective political analysis and in contemporary reporting from the period of his parliamentary activity. Ziad also played a role in documenting alleged abuses against Palestinian detainees. In the late 1980s, he co-authored reports on prison conditions following official visits, documentation later cited by the United Nations General Assembly as evidence of systematic abuse of Palestinian detainees. Commentators have identified this activity as part of his broader effort to advance the Palestinian cause through legal, parliamentary, and international mechanisms rather than underground or militant action.
Poetry
Poetry
The theme of sumud, which became a major literary theme as a form of "resistance", played an important role in Ziad's poetry. He is particularly well known for his poem Here We Will Stay: In Lydda, in Ramla, in the Galilee, we shall remain like a wall upon your chest, and in your throat like a shard of glass a cactus thorn, and in your eyes a sandstorm, We shall remain a wall upon your chest, clean in your restaurants, serve drinks in your bars, sweep the floors of your kitchens to snatch a bite for our children from your blue fangs.
Death
Death
Ziad died on 5 July 1994 in a head-on collision in the Jordan Valley on his way back to Nazareth from Jericho after welcoming Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, back from exile. He was survived by his wife and four children. At the time of his sudden death, he was still Mayor of Nazareth, a member of the Knesset and "a leading Arab legislator". A street is named after him in Shefa-'Amr,Nazareth and Sakhnin.

Arab author and politician Tawfiq Ziad speaks in the 1979 Land Day
Beni Birk / Photographer: Israel Press and Photo Agency (I.P.P.A.) / Dan Hadani collection, National Library of Israel / CC BY 4.0 · This image is available from National Library of Israel under the digital ID: 004045909 (990040459090205171)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1929
Tawfiq Ziad born at Nazareth.
1994
Tawfiq Ziad died at Jordan Valley.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Gerlitz, Ron. A revolutionary Palestinian poet who saw Jews as brothers. Haaretz. 2021-02-02.
- 2.Rakah Victory in Nazareth. Journal of Palestine Studies. 5. 3/4. 178–180. 1976. 0377-919X.
- 3.Kanaaneh, Hatim. Sumud, crucifixion, and poetry: The life of Palestinian leader Tawfiq Zayyad. Mondoweiss. 19 December 2020.
- 4.Sorek, 2020, p=37-40
- 5.Sorek, 2020, p=55-56
- 6.Beinin, Joel. A century after its founding, the Israeli Communist Party is at a crossroads. +972 Magazine. 2023-07-28.
- 7.Matar, Dina. What it Means to be Palestinian: Stories of Palestinian Peoplehood. I.B.Tauris. 82. 2011. 978-0-7556-1460-8.
- 8.Tawfik Ziad, 65, Mayor of Nazareth. The New York Times. The Associated Press. 6 July 1994.
- 9.United Nations General Assembly. Report of the Special Committee To Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories. June 2018.
- 10.Beinin, Joel. A century after its founding, the Israeli Communist Party is at a crossroads. +972 Magazine. 2023-07-28.
- 11.Gerlitz, Ron. A revolutionary Palestinian poet who saw Jews as brothers. Haaretz. 2021-02-02.
- 12.Sorek, Tamir. עדיין לא מאוחר להקשיב לתופיק זיאד. Local Call. 2023-06-20.
- 13.Tawfik Ziad, 65, Mayor of Nazareth. The New York Times. 1994-07-06.
- 14.Vilner, Meir. היום הראשון של יום האדמה. Marxists Internet Archive (Hebrew). 1996.
- 15.Cassif, Ofer. יום האדמה: ממאבק על זכויות הפרט לעיצובה של תודעה לאומית קולקטיבית. Zo HaDerekh. 2026-03-30.
- 16.United Nations General Assembly. Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories. 1987-12-23.
- 17.UN. UN. Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories.
- 18.Elmessiri, Abdelwahab M. The Palestinian Wedding: Major Themes of Contemporary Palestinian Resistance Poetry. Journal of Palestine Studies. 10. 3. 77-99, 93-94. Spring 1981. 10.2307/2536461.
- 19.Furani, Khaled. Dangerous Weddings: Palestinian Poetry Festivals during Israel's First Military Rule. The Arab Studies Journal. 21. 1. 79-100, 81-82. Spring 2013. 41968269.
- 20.Ghanim, Honaida. Poetics of Disaster: Nationalism, Gender, and Social Change Among Palestinian Poets in Israel After Nakba. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society. 22. 1. 23-39, 37. March 2009. 10.1007/s10767-009-9049-9.
- 21.Tawfiq Ziad street, Shefar'am. The Geospatial Portal, Inter-Ministerial Committee for National Geographic Information.
- 22.Tawfik Ziad Street, Nazareth. The Geospatial Portal, Inter-Ministerial Committee for National Geographic Information.
- 23.Tawfiq Ziad street, Sakhnin. The Geospatial Portal, Inter-Ministerial Committee for National Geographic Information.
References
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