not even to his editor. Here is the place where stubbornness and the joy of creating join to become one determined decision, with the last word left to Michael at all times.[5] He mostly discards the whole novel and begins writing again. He wrote the novel Water Kissing Water over 20 years, and the version that was finally published was the eighth version. During this time he had other novels published, including: Unbounded Ideas. He declares that he writes from the gut, without planning out the novel. He likes to surprise himself, although he adds: At the Heart of literature is the plot. When there is no plot, in my opinion, it is not literature but rather another academic exercise." His books are bestsellers, and his readers are from diverse social strata. His style has been nurtured by both the treasures of the Hebrew language and the wealth of the Arab language. Many would say that Michael generated the revolution of pluralism in Israeli literature in that his protagonists are always “the other”, mainly focusing on Arabs, women, refugees and immigrants. Michael says "life experience has given me a whole gallery of characters." Michael: "My childhood was soaked in the wisdom of women. I was amazed by the richness of their imagination. I remember with wonder how a woman, at the age of 90, toothless would become pretty when playing a princess waiting for her prince." His novels explore a wide range of interlocking relationships – social, ethnic and political – between Jews and Arabs, Moslems and Christians, nationalists and communists and Iraq and Israel, at times comparable to the multiple political identities within Michael himself. "It is as if, sometimes, I feel I am two persons. One is an Arab Iraqi, the other an Israeli Jew." Michael's writing is characterized by its humor, painful irony, empathy and tolerance. His style is clean, direct, and bare of symbols, yet with an outstanding expressiveness. Each story exudes authenticity and personal involvement. His writing, rich in imagery. With a scathing realism, he exposes the weaknesses and virtue of the human being, but always with a jealous regard for his honor, freedom and compassion. In his books he describes the Jewish-Arab conflict of its deep national, psychological and social aspects. The longing for social justice, equality between peoples, communities and gender are a central motif in Michael's writing that smashes stereotypes and prejudices.