Moshe Shamir

Moshe Shamir was born in 1921 in Safed

Shamir was born in Safed to Ella and Arieh Shamir. In 1924 the family moved to Tel Aviv, where he studied at the Tel Nordau School and the Herzliya Hebrew High School.

He joined Hashomer Hatzair in 1934 and later entered its leadership. He edited the movement paper Al Ha-Homa, where his first story appeared in 1940. He was a member of kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek and served in the Palmach.

His 1947 novel He Walked Through the Fields, about a young Palmach member named Uri, was staged as a play and later made into a film. He edited the army paper Bamahane until Ben-Gurion demanded his dismissal. His 1951 book about his brother Elik, who was killed in the War of Independence, entered the school curriculum.

After the Six-Day War he helped found the Movement for Greater Israel. He was elected to the Knesset for the Likud in 1977, opposed the Camp David Accords, and left the Likud in late 1979 to found Tehiya.

He left the Knesset in 1981 to focus on writing. He died in Rishon LeZion in 2004 and was buried in Tel Aviv.