Dr. Fouzi El-Asmar (in memoriam)
Dr. Fouzi El-Asmar (in memoriam 1937-2013), author, poet, and leading journalist in the Arab world on Israeli-Palestinian affairs.
Dr. Fouzi El-Asmar was a distinguished Palestinian writer, poet, academic and journalist. He was a publicly recognized authority on the political and social lives and conditions of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. He regularly published articles that are syndicated in the Arabic press throughout the Middle East and in Europe. He wrote numerous books, including Through the Hebrew Looking Glass and the renowned To Be an Arab in Israel. The latter has been published in seven languages, including English, Hebrew and Arabic. Dr. El-Asmar also wrote several collections of poetry, including Poems from an Israeli Prison and The Wind-driven Reed and Other Poems.
Born in Haifa, Palestine, Dr. El-Asmar grew up in a Palestinian area of Israel. In 1958, he became a member of the editorial board of the literary monthly, Al-Fajr, and in 1966 he became editor of the Arabic magazine, Hadha-al-Alam. He attended Central Connecticut State University (then Central Connecticut State College) and received his B.A. degree there with honors in 1975. He subsequently earned a Ph.D. from the University of Exeter in England. Then in 1979, he became the managing editor of the London-based international newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat.
Dr. El-Asmar lectured and taught at a number of universities, including St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, and Bradford University in England, and the American University in Washington, D.C. He held dual Israeli and U.S. citizenship and resided in Bethesda, Maryland.