Bedouin lawmaker Said al-Harumi from the United Arab List died early Wednesday morning at the age of 49 after suffering a heart attack. Al-Harumi was the deputy chairman of the UAL, and had been a member of Knesset since 2017.
During this Knesset, al-Harumi was chairman of the Interior and Environment committee, and for the past several years had been chairman of the subcommittee on Negev affairs. He was also among the leading advocates for recognition of unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev.
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Al-Harumi was born in 1972 in the Bedouin village of Segev Shalom in the Negev, and went to high school in the town of Jatt in the northern part of Israel. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He taught at the local high school in Segev Shalom, and was eventually elected to the village’s council.
In 2002, al-Harumi was elected secretary-general of the UAL, and two years later was elected head of the council of Segev Shalom, a position he held till 2008. In 2014, al-Harumi became deputy chairman of the UAL.
al-Harumi with UAL chairman Mansour Abbas and UAL MKs Mazen Ghanayim and Walid TahaOhad Zwigenberg
Al-Harumi was the only member of his party who didn’t support the creation of the current government, as he abstained during the vote on its founding in protest of house demolitions in the Negev, in particularly in the Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj. Within the coalition, there were worries that al-Harumi would again vote against it because of demolitions.
In a statement, the UAL said that al-Harumi “did great work throughout his life for the betterment of Arab society in the Negev.”
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The person who will take his place is Iman Yassin Khatib, who is next up on the UAL list.
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