Politicsסאלח-חסן ח'ניפס

Salah-Hassan Hanifes

Salah-Hassan Hanifes was a Druze Israeli politician who served in the Knesset for Progress and Work from 1951 to 1959.

1913 to 2002Leading the Progress and Work listDruze Knesset member, 1951 to 1959Enlisting Druze in 1948

Born: 1 March 1913, Shefa-Amr
Died: 16 March 2002, Israel
Occupation: politician
Party: Progress and Work

Salah-Hassan Hanifes was born in 1913 in Shefa-Amr

Hanifes was born in Shefa-Amr in 1913, during the Ottoman era. He went to a primary school there and later studied at a Druze religious center in Hasbaya, Lebanon.

In the 1930s he formed ties with the Haganah, including Abba Hushi and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War he helped enlist Druze.

In 1949 he joined the Supreme Druze Council set up by the government. In 1951 he chaired the council of crop marketing cooperatives and was elected to the Knesset as head of Progress and Work, a list allied with Mapai. He was re-elected in 1955.

In 1959 a split with Mapai led him to form the Independent Faction for Israeli Arabs. The list won 0.4% of the vote, below the 1% threshold, and he lost his seat. He died in 2002.