Alterman, Natan

(1910-70)

   One of Israel's first and most prominent Hebrew poets. Born in Warsaw, Poland, he arrived in Palestine in 1925 and published his first poem in 1931. His satirical political verse, which gave voice to the Zionist community's struggle against the policies of the British mandatory authority in the 1940s, earned him the nickname "the poet of the Yishuv." Much of his popular work was reflected in his weekly newspaper column in Ha'aretz, which he began writing in 1934, and in Davar from 1943. During World War II, much of Alterman's poetry dealt with Jewish symbols and themes, and his works were imbued with the horrors of the Holocaust. With the end of the war, his works linked the Holocaust to illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine (Aliya Bet) and Israel's War of Independence. In his later years, Alterman used his poetry to voice strong support for permanent retention of Arab territory won by Israel in the Six-Day War and the concept of a Greater Israel. Alterman died in Tel Aviv.