Seif el-Din el-Zoubi

Seif el-Din el-Zoubi was born in 1913 in Nazareth

El-Zoubi was born in Nazareth in 1913 and went to high school there. He was the eldest son of Ahmad Said el-Zoubi, head of the Zoubi family.

Under the British Mandate he worked with the Haganah, and the Arab Higher Committee sentenced him to death for cooperating with the Zionists. He survived an attempt on his life in 1946. During the War of Independence he persuaded the Zoubi family to side with the Jewish forces rather than the Arab Liberation Army.

In 1949 he entered the Knesset at the head of the Democratic List of Nazareth, a party allied with Mapai. He was re-elected in 1951 and 1955 and resigned his seat on 13 February 1956. Rivals from Maki and Mapam accused him of betraying his people.

In 1959 he became mayor of Nazareth, the city's first Muslim mayor after decades of Christian rule. He returned to the Knesset in 1965 for Progress and Development and later became Deputy Speaker. He was mayor again from 1971 to 1974.

He was elected for the last time in 1977 on the United Arab List and resigned on 3 April 1979. He died on 26 June 1986.