“I always envied them, the owners of the cars with the white plates who can be seen around Jerusalem. I always wanted to be one of them. We call them U.N., even though U.N. are generally foreign correspondents with leased cars and yellow plates.”

Palestinian Israeli author and journalist

Sayed Kashua is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and an author and journalist born in Tira, Israel. He is known for his books and for his humorous columns in Hebrew and English. Kashua writes across fiction and journalism, and his work has been noted for moving between languages and audiences. His columns, in particular, are associated with wit and social observation, reflecting the bilingual setting in which he writes.