Amin Tarif

Amin Tarif was born in 1898 in Julis

Amin Tarif was born in 1898 in the village of Julis in the Western Galilee. He was the youngest son of Sheikh Tarif Tarif, who led the Druze community before him. His family had four sons and two daughters.

After finishing fourth grade, he traveled in 1911 to Khalwat al-Bayada near Hasbaya to study the Druze religion, and finished in 1918. Back in Julis, he lived a modest, ascetic life, growing grain for his own needs.

After his father died in 1928, he was appointed head of the Druze community. He represented the community before the British authorities, and in 1946 he led a delegation of Druze leaders to make peace among Druze factions in Jabal al-Druze. During the 1948 war he urged the Druze to stay in their villages.

In Israel he set up a Druze religious council in 1950 and worked for the recognition of the Druze as a separate community in 1957. He chaired the Druze Religious Court of Appeals from 1963 and managed the holy site of Nabi Shu'ayb. In 1990 he received the Israel Prize.

He died on October 2, 1993. President Ezer Weizman and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin attended his funeral, and he was buried at his family home in Julis. His grandson Mowafak Tarif succeeded him.