IGM candidate profile: Hussein Tarabieh

For years the towns in the Beit Netufa Valley in the Galilee suffered from untreated sewage, harming the local environment and posing a health risk and nuisance to the local population. Dr. Hussein Tarabieh – a native of Sakhnin – put an end to that. Hussein is co-founder and director for 15 years of the Regional Center for Environmental Education and R&D (TAEQ) in the Beit Natufa Basin near Sakhnin. In his capacity as director he has brought numerous environmental programs to the Beit Natufa area, including environmental education, planning and solutions for sewage treatment, energy conservation, green building and Arab-Jewish cooperation in the region.

Hussein Tarabieh - professionalism, experience and compassion

Hussein holds a master’s degree in Environmental Science from the Technion and a Ph.D. in Environmental Conflict Management from the Department of Geography at the University of Haifa. Among his long list of experiences, he represented the Israel Ministry of the Environment in peace talks with Jordan and he oversaw the creation of the offices of the Towns Authority in Sakhnin – a green building that has won several international awards.

As a Knesset member, Hussein would focus on environmental issues from the local to regional scale, strengthen environmental bureaus and agencies, close social, economic and environmental gaps between the Israeli Arab and Jewish communities, introduce environmental education into the formal school requirements, and continue – as he has for years – to work to bring together Jews and Arabs within Israel and regionally, towards peace, co-existence and mutual respect.

The IGM is proud to have Hussein – with his abundant professional experience and commitment to co-existence – as a candidate for the Green Movement Knesset list.