Walid Haj Yahia

Walid Haj Yahia was born in 1936 in Taibe

Walid Haj Yahia was born in Taibe in 1936, the youngest son of a farming family that had lived there for centuries. His father died when he was young, and his mother ran the household. He was also known as Walid Sadik.

He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He later said he had barely met Jewish Israelis before his studies.

He taught at the high school of Kibbutz Gan Shmuel and later at the high school in Taibe, where he also served in school leadership. He was a member of the Teachers' Union central committee.

He began in politics in Mapam, then helped found the Left Camp of Israel. He entered the Knesset in 1981 in place of Uri Avnery and served on the Education and Culture Committee. After returning to Mapam, he was elected for Meretz in 1992 and 1996, served as deputy minister of agriculture under Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, and was a deputy speaker of the Knesset.

He lost his seat in 1999. In 2012 he self-published an autobiography. He was a father of 6 and died in 2015 of heart disease.