Hana Sweid

Hana Sweid was born in 1955 in Eilabun

Sweid was born on 27 March 1955 in Eilabun to a Christian Arab family of the Greek Catholic community. In the early 20th century his family had moved from Arraba to Eilabun.

He studied civil engineering at the Technion, earning a BSc and an MSc. He later received a PhD in civil engineering and urban planning, completed in 1988.

He worked as an engineer and was a researcher and lecturer at the University of Reading in England. He headed the Eilabun local council from 1993. In 1996 he joined the National Council for Planning and Construction as its first Arab member, and from 2003 to 2006 he led the Arab Center for Alternative Planning.

In 2006 he was placed second on the Hadash list and entered the Knesset, and he kept his seat in 2009 and 2013. He initiated an amendment requiring planning bodies to publish notices on their websites and worked to establish a new Arab city in the north. Before the 2015 elections he retired, holding a symbolic 109th place on the Joint List.