Politicsלביב חוסיין אבו רוכן

Labib Hussein Abu Rokan

Labib Hussein Abu Rokan was a Druze Israeli politician who served in the Knesset for the Cooperation and Brotherhood party from 1959 to 1961.

1911 to 1989Druze Knesset memberHeading the Isfiya local councilServing as a Druze qadiRecruiting Druze volunteers in 1948

Died: 20 November 1989, Israel
Occupation: politician, judge, trade unionist
Party: Cooperation and Brotherhood

Labib Hussein Abu Rokan was born in 1911 in Isfiya

Abu Rokan was born in Isfiya in 1911, during the Ottoman era. His family took part in building ties between the Druze community and the Jewish community from the early 1930s.

During the Arab revolt of 1936 to 1939, he worked to keep the Druze out of the revolt and built links with Abba Hushi and the Haganah. He led delegations to Druze leaders in Lebanon and Syria. He was also a member of a workers union tied to the Histadrut.

In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he recruited young Druze men to fight in the IDF. After the war, he helped set up cooperatives in Druze and Arab villages, including Bustan, a vegetable marketing company.

He headed the Isfiya local council from 1950 to 1959. In 1959 he was elected to the Knesset for Cooperation and Brotherhood, but he lost his seat in the 1961 elections.

In 1963 he was sworn in as a qadi of the Druze religious court. In 1980 he became a qadi in the Druze Religious Appeals Court. He died on 20 November 1989.