Eli Amir

Eli Amir ( _he. אלי עמיר, born September 26, 1937) is an Israeli writer and activist.

Biography

Amir was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1937. He immigrated to Israel with his family in 1950 and went to school in Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek. He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 1964 to 1968 he served as adviser on Arab affairs to the Prime Minister of Israel and as envoy for the Ministry of Immigration Absorption to the United States. Since 1984, he has been director-general of the youth immigration department at the Jewish Agency.Cite web
title = Eli Amir
work = The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
accessdate = 2008-05-04
url = http://www.ithl.org.il/author_info.asp?id=16] Cite web
last = Amir
first = Eli
title = Eli Amir: Jewish People's Largest Rescue Operation
work = Jewish Agency
accessdate = 2008-05-04
date = 2005-01-30
url = http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Israel/YouthFutures/YouthAliyah/News/2004/Eli+Amir_+Jewish+People_s+Largest+Rescue+Operation+130.htm]

Activism

Amir has frequently called for social justice and denounced what he has described as the deterioration of the Israeli welfare state.Cite news
last = עמיר
first = אלי
title = זעקה משדרות
work = nrg
accessdate = 2008-05-06
date = 2007-11-11
url = http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/657/309.html he icon] In 2007, when his book "Jasmine" was published in Arabic in Egypt, he expressed hope that more Israeli books be spread in the Arab world, saying "How can there be peace without us knowing each other?".Cite news
title = Israeli novel published in Egypt
work = Ynetnews
accessdate = 2008-05-04
date = 2007-11-12
url = http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3481213,00.html] He repeated that statement in a literary soiree held by the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.Cite news
last = Stern
first = Yoav
title = Eli Amir's love story brings Israelis and Egyptians closer
work = Haaretz
accessdate = 2008-05-04
url = http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=597639&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y] He also signed a petition calling for Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert to negotiate a cease-fire with Hamas.Cite news
last = Lev-Ari
first = Shiri
coauthors = Mazal Mualem
title = Leading Israeli authors, intellectuals call for truce with Hamas
work = Haaretz
accessdate = 2008-05-04
date = 2007-09-24
url = https://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArtStEng.jhtml?itemNo=906706&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&title='Leading%20Israeli%20authors,%20intellectuals%20call%20for%20truce%20with%20Hamas'&dyn_server=172.20.5.5] In 2006, when President of Israel Moshe Katsav was indicted with rape, several Israeli websites suggested Amir as a successor. Amir himself told Maariv that he would seriously consider such an offer.Cite news
last = שטרן
first = איתי
title = כבוד הנשיא?
work = nrg
accessdate = 2008-05-06
date = 2006-08-30
url = http://www.nrg.co.il/online/5/ART1/472/152.html he icon]

Literature

"Scapegoat" (1983) is a semi-autobiographical story of Nuri, a 13 year old immigrant boy from Iraq who is sent to a Kibbutz and his absorption into Israeli society.Cite web
title = Scapegoat
work = The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
accessdate = 2008-05-06
url = http://www.ithl.org.il/book_info.asp?id=1057] "Farewell, Baghdad" (1992) is the story of 17-year-old Kabi Amari, an Iraqi Jewish boy growing up in a Zionist family.Cite web
title = Farewell, Baghdad
work = The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
accessdate = 2008-05-06
url = http://www.ithl.org.il/book_info.asp?id=1058] "Saul's Love" (1998) is a romance between Saul, born to a a deeply rooted Sephardi family from Jerusalem, and Chaya, an Ashkenazi holocaust survivor.Cite web
title = Saul's Love
work = The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
accessdate = 2008-05-06
url = http://www.ithl.org.il/book_info.asp?id=1059] "Jasmine" (2005) is also largely autobiographical. The book's protagonist, Nuri Amari, is a new immigrant from Iraq, who is appointed to a government post in East Jerusalem in the wake of the Six-Day War. He meets Jasmine, a young Palestinian widow from a wealthy Christian refugee family.

Acclaim

"Scapegoat" is included in the Israeli secondary school syllabus,Cite web
title = Amir, Eli
work = Hebrew at Stanford
accessdate = 2008-05-04
url = http://www.stanford.edu/class/hebrew/books/amir.html] and was adapted into a play and a television series. He received the Youth Immigration's Jubilee Prize (1983), the Jewish Literature Prize (in Mexico, 1985), the Ahi Award (1994), Am Oved's Jubilee Prize (1994), the Yigal Alon Prize for Outstanding Service to Society (1997), the Book Publishers Association's Platinum Prize (1998) and the Prime Minister's Prize (2002).

Bibliography

Translated into English

*Cite book
publisher = Weidenfeld and Nicolson
pages = 218
last = Amir
first = Eli
title = Scapegoat: A Novel
date = 1987

In Hebrew

*"Scapegoat", Am Oved, 1984, [Tarnegol Kaparot]
*"Farewell, Baghdad", Am Oved, 1992 [Mafriah Ha-Yonim]
*"Saul's Love", Am Oved, 1998 [Ahavat Shaul]
*"Jasmine", Am Oved, 2005 [Yasmin]

References

External links

*Cite video
people = wsterneberg1 (Contributor)
title = I am an Arab Jew
accessdate = 2008-05-06
date = 2008-01-03
time = 383 seconds
url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GECBrshPxyU