[1][2] Born in Nazareth during the British Mandate, Ziad was active in the Israeli communist party.

[5] In December 1975, Ziad was elected mayor of Nazareth, serving as leader of the communist Rakah party in the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality coalition.

It was also submitted to the United Nations by Tawfik Toubi, and Ziad after their visit to Al-Far'ah prison on 29 October 1987.

[10][11] He is particularly well known for his poem Here We Will Stay: Ziad died on 5 July 1994 in a head-on collision in the Jordan Valley on his way back to Nazareth from Jericho after welcoming Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, back from exile.

At the time of his sudden death, he was still Mayor of Nazareth, a member of the Knesset and "a leading Arab legislator".