Odeh Bisharat

Odeh Bisharat (; ; 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 in Yafa an-Naseriyye. His family had been displaced from Ma'alul, an Arab village destroyed by Israeli forces in the 1948 Palestine war.

Teacher, writer and activist Bisharat became a high school teacher. , he continued as a teacher. 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.

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

He has written several novels. 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.

Political affiliation Bisharat has been the Secretary General of the Hadash political coalition.

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".

Personal life Bisharat lives with his two sons, a daughter and his wife in Yafa an-Naseriyye.