Assaf, Michael

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ASSAF, MICHAEL

ASSAF, MICHAEL (1896–1983), Israeli author and specialist in Arab affairs. Born in Lodz, Poland, Assaf settled in Palestine in 1920 and became secretary of the cultural department of the Histadrut in 1921. He later went to Berlin to study Arabic and returned to edit the Arabic section of the Histadrut daily Davar. From 1937 he edited the paper's Arabic weekly, and from 1948 the Arabic daily Al-Yom. He published Toledot ha-Araviyyim be-Ereẓ Yisrael ("History of the Arabs in Ereẓ Israel"; 3 vols., 1935), and devoted himself to seeking understanding with the Arabs of Israel. For some time he was chairman of the Israel Journalists' Association.