Shulamith Hareven (1930-2003, b. Warsaw, Poland) came to pre-state Israel in 1940 and lived in Jerusalem. She served in the Hagana underground, and was a combat-medic in the 1947-48 siege of Jerusalem. Hareven was one of the founders of the IDF broadcasts and an Officer in Command/Operations in the IDF. During the early 50`s, she worked in transit camps with refugees from Arab countries and served as a war correspondent during the War of Attrition and Yom Kippur War. Hareven was the first woman elected as a member of the Hebrew Language Academy. She was a longtime member of the spokesteam of the Peace Now movement, and during the first Intifada she entered Arab refugee camps and reported to the Israeli press. She was also a columnist on current social, cultural and political events.
In 1995, the French magazine, L`Express, elected Shulamith Hareven as one of the 100 women "who move the world."

Books Published in Hebrew
Predatory Jerusalem (poetry), Sifriat Poalim, 1962 [Yerushalayim Dorsanit]
In the Last Month (stories), Daga, 1966 [Ba-Hodesh Ha-Aharon]
Separate Places (poetry), Sifriat Poalim, 1969 [Mekomot Nifradim]
Permission Granted (stories), Massada, 1970 [Reshut Netunah]
City of Many Days (novel), Am Oved, 1972 [Ir Yamim Rabim]
I Love to Smell (children), Sifriat Poalim, 1976 [Ani Ohev Lehariah]
Loneliness (stories), Am Oved, 1980 [Bedidut]
The Dulcinea Syndrome (essays), Keter, 1981 [Tismonet Dulcinea]
The Miracle Hater (novella), Dvir, 1983 [Soneh Ha-Nisim]
The Link (novel), Zmora Bitan, 1986 [Ha-Huliah]
Messiah or Knesset (essays), Dvir, 1987 [Mashiah O Knesset]
Prophet (novella), Dvir, 1989 [Navi]
Eyeless in Gaza (non-fiction), Zmora Bitan, 1991 [Ivrim Be-Aza]
After Childhood (novella), Dvir, 1994 [Aharei Ha-Yaldut]
Thirst - The Desert Trilogy, Dvir, 1996 [Tzimaon]
The Vocabulary of Peace (non-fiction), Zmora Bitan, 1996 [Otzar Ha-Milim Shel Ha-Shalom]
So What If I`m All Grown Up? (children), Dvir, 1999 [Ma Ani Ashem She-Ani Gadol?]

Books in Translation
City of Many Days
French: Paris, Pierre Belfond, 1990
English: New York, Doubleday, 1977
New York, Popular Library, 1978
Paperback: San Francisco, Mercury House, 1993
German: Frankfurt am Main, Dvorah, 1993
Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1996
Estonian: Tallinn, Loomingu Raamatukogu, 1999

The Miracle Hater
English: San Francisco, North Point Press, 1988
Arabic: Shefaram, Al-Mashriq, 1992
French: Paris, Pierre Belfond, 1993

Prophet
Arabic: Jerusalem, Alfa Type, 1993
English: San Francisco, North Point Press, 1990
French: Paris, Pierre Belfond, 1993

Shulamit Hareven was born in Warsaw, Poland. When World War II broke out, her family was smuggled through Europe and in 1940 settled in Jerusalem, where Hareven still lived in 2004. The memory of this escape was responsible for Hareven's belief in self-defense. She served in the Haganah underground and was a combat medic during the siege of Jerusalem in Israel's War of Independence; later she took part in founding the Israel Defense Force radio. In the fifties, she became an officer and worked in the Jewish refugee camps, especially those with Jews from Arab countries. She was a military correspondent before and during the Yom Kippur War. Hareven was the first woman member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. She was also a longtime member of the spokesteam of the Peace Now movement, and during the first Palestinian Intifada entered Arab refugee camps and reported to the Israeli press. She worked as a columnist on current social, cultural, and political events.
Hareven published seventeen books of poetry, fiction, and essays, in addition to her latest autobiography, Yamim Rabim (Many days), published in Hebrew in 2002. Her first novel, City of Many Days (1972), depicts Jerusalem of the British mandate with great compassion, intimate understanding, and poetic richness. Hareven's Jerusalem is a detailed, colorful, and intricate tapestry woven of Arab, British, Sephardic, and European Jewish characters. The novel is also a "coming of age" story of a strong, autonomous woman. Its feminist sensibilities, although ambivalent, represent a first in Israeli literature. The novel, largely dismissed when it first appeared, was ahead of its time in terms of both its feminism and its implicit critique of Zionist ideology. Hareven wrote two novellas set in biblical times, The Miracle Hater (1983) and Prophet (1989), employing a concise, laconic, biblical style. An avid advocate of human rights, she writes in her essays and articles about Jews and Arabs, new immigrants and Israelis, and declares herself a "selective feminist." In 1995, the French magazine L'express elected Hareven as one of the one hundred women "who move the world."
Bibliography
Feldman, Yael. "Feminism under Siege: The Vicarious Selves of Israeli Women Writers." Prooftexts 10 (1990).
Hareven, Shulamit. Thirst: The Desert Trilogy, translated by Hillel Halkin with the author. San Francisco, CA: Mercury House, 1996.
Hareven, Shulamit. The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East. San Francisco, CA: Mercury House, 1995.