Walid Haj Yahia ( ar, وليد حاج يحيى; he, וליד חאג'-יחיא, also known as Walid Sadik, 1936 – 21 March 2015) was an

Israeli Arab The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the

Left Camp of Israel The Left Camp of Israel ( he, מחנה שמאל לישראל, ''Maḥaneh Smol LeYisrael'') was a Israeli left-wing politics, left-wing List of political parties in Israel, political party in Israel. It was also known as Sheli ( he, של"י), an ...

and

Meretz Meretz ( he, מֶרֶצ, ) is a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed in 1992 by the merger of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was at its peak between 1992 and 1996 when it had 12 seats. It currently has no seats in the Knesset ...

Biography

Born in Tayibe during the Mandate era, Haj Yahia studied at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

, gaining a BA in sociology and political science. He worked as headmaster of a high school in Tayibe for 23 years, and was a member of the Teachers' Union's central committee. A member of the

, he was on the party's list for the

1977 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1977. Africa * 1977 Afars and Issas Constituent Assembly election * 1977 Algerian legislative election * 1977 Gambian general election * 1976–1977 Guinea-Bissau legislative election * 1977 Malagasy ...

. Although he missed out on a seat, he entered the Knesset on 13 February 1981 as a replacement for

Uri Avnery Uri Avnery ( he, אורי אבנרי, also transliterated Uri Avneri; 10 September 1923 – 20 August 2018) was an Israeli writer, politician, and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement. A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat for two ...

.Knesset Members of the Ninth Knesset
Knesset website However, he lost his seat in the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

in June that year as the party failed to cross the electoral threshold. After the 1992 elections he returned to the Knesset on the Meretz list. On 4 August he was appointed Deputy

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Ministerstwo Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi) was formed in October 1999 from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Economy of Poland; the ministry can trace its history ...

in Yitzhak Rabin's government, a role he also held under

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...

' brief tenure as Prime Minister after Rabin's assassination. He was re-elected in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, but lost his seat in the

1999 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1999. * 1999 electoral calendar Africa * 1999 Algerian presidential election * 1999 Botswana general election * 1999 Beninese parliamentary election * 1999 Central African Republic presidential elect ...

References

External links

* * Tom Segev, Aug.03, 2012
Between his state and his people. In a new memoir, a former Arab-Israeli Knesset member tells his story, from the Nakba to heart-to-heart talks with Rabin and Arafat
Haaretz {{DEFAULTSORT:Haj Yahia, Walid 1936 births 2015 deaths Date of birth missing Place of death missing 20th-century Israeli educators Arab members of the Knesset Arab people in Mandatory Palestine Deputy ministers of Israel Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Social Sciences alumni Israeli trade unionists Left Camp of Israel politicians Meretz politicians Members of the 9th Knesset (1977–1981) Members of the 13th Knesset (1992–1996) Members of the 14th Knesset (1996–1999) People from Tayibe