Hamad Abu Rabia

Hamad Abu Rabia was born in 1929 in Negev

Abu Rabia was born in 1929 in the Negev, near Tel Malhata, and grew up there. He studied at a school for Bedouin children in Beersheba and went to high school in Hebron. At 18, after the death of his father Khalil, he became sheikh of the Abu Rabia tribe and worked to set up schools for its children.

In 1973 he headed the Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers, which won 1 seat, and he entered the Knesset. The list joined the Alignment in 1974 and left it in June 1976, forming the United Arab List. He worked against land expropriation and for recognition of Bedouin ownership of land in the Negev.

In 1977 the United Arab List won 1 seat, and its members agreed to rotate it. Abu Rabia entered the Knesset in April 1979 and opposed taking tribal land for the Nevatim air base. When Jabr Muadi demanded the seat in 1980, Abu Rabia refused, and a court rejected Muadi's claim.

On 12 January 1981 he was shot dead outside the Holyland Hotel in Jerusalem. Muadi's sons were convicted of the murder. He was buried in Kuseife, and a school there bears his name.