Mohammad Barakeh

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Mohammad Barakeh
Date of birth July 29, 1955
Knesset(s) 15th, 16th, 17th (current)
Party Hadash

Mohammad Barakeh (Hebrew: מוחמד ברכה‎, Arabic: محمد بركة‎, born July 29, 1955) is an Israeli Arab politician and General Secretary of the Hadash Movement (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) in Israel's parliament, the Knesset. As one of the Knesset's few Israeli Arab members, he is often treated as a spokesman for the Israeli Arab community by Israel's media.

He is from Shfar'am, in the North District of Israel. He is married, has three children and currently lives in Tel Aviv.

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[edit] Political career

[edit] From student leader to parliamentarian

Mohammad Barakeh first became politically involved as a student at Tel-Aviv University in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was head of the Association of Arab Students in Israel, and among the founders and major activists of "CAMPUS" (the Hebrew - קמפו"ס - acronym of "Student Social and Political Involvement Group"), which united left-wing Jewish and Arab students in a joint struggle against the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and for full equality of Arabs in Israel.

In that time, he had formed extensive political partnerships and personal friendships with Jewish fellow students, many of which continue up to the present. The rented apartment where he lived for many years on top of an old building at Rothschild Boulevard in downtown Tel-Aviv was a well-known rendezvous for political meetings and also the venue of sometimes boisterous student parties lasting deep into the night.

Among numerous other political actions, the first demonstration against The Lebanon War - held on the war's third day, June 7, 1982, dispersed by police with considerable violence, and still well-remembered by veterans of the Israeli Peace Movement - was planned at a dramatic meeting held in Barakeh's Tel-Aviv apartment.

Following the end of his studies, Barakeh returned to his hometown of Shfar'am, a place with considerable importance in the internal politics of Israel's Arab citizens, and took up political activity in the local Communist Party branch. The well-known record of his student days added to his prestige and standing in a party which - though most of its members and voters are Arab - has a high regard for joint Jewish-Arab action, as a supreme ideological as well as organizational principle.

With the party's "Change of Guard", following the retirement of its long-time leader Meir Vilner in 1990, Barakeh was elevated to be one of its parliamentary represntatives and was re-elected again and again up to the present.

He is considered a good speaker in both Arabic and Hebrew, popular among the party's grassroots, and one of its mainstays in often tough contests with rival parties. While active on the Knesset floor and producing a ceaseless stream of oppositional initiatives, Barakeh considers his parliamentary job to also include frequent participation in and walking at the head of demonstrations, both in various parts of Israel and in the Occupied Territories. His parliamentary status did not prevent him from being hit on various occasions by police batons and by tear gas canisters shot by soldiers.

[edit] Extremist threats

In February 2005, Barakeh was threatened by Kahanist activist (and now-outlawed Kach party leader) Baruch Marzel over his pivotal support for Ariel Sharon's evacuation compensation bill, a move that paved the way for Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. In a letter, Marzel wrote to Barakeh: "the evacuation bill was passed with your backing, and now it is only a matter of time before it is implemented on other sectors of society, including you and your friends." Marzel wrote that Barakeh's vote "in favor of expelling Jews from their homes in Gaza and the northern Samaria" would result in "appraisers [being] sent to your home to estimate its value."

Barakeh appeared unintimidated by the threats, and issued a warning of his own in response to the letter: "In Israel we have freedom of movement, and Baruch Marzel may come to Shfar'am, but if he violates my privacy I cannot vouch for his well-being."

[edit] Violence in Shfar'am

On August 4, 2005, an AWOL Israel Defense Forces soldier, Eden Natan-Zada, opened fire while aboard a bus in the city, killing four Israeli Arab citizens (two Christian and two Muslim) and wounding twenty-two others. While reloading his rifle, Natan-Zada was overcome by nearby Shfar'am residents and beaten to death. The shooting, believed to have been in protest of the disengagement plan, prompted outrage amongst Shfar'am's residents.

That Natan-Zada was killed after having been subdued generated controversy as to whether or not the crowd's actions were justifiable self-defense or defense of others. Barakeh warned that protests could erupt should police seek criminal charges over Natan-Zada's lynching: "Normally when someone stops a terrorist from continuing to kill he is considered a hero, but in this case it is the heroes who are sitting on the defense stand" (see [1]).

[edit] External links


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Members of the Knesset for Hadash
Mohammad Barakeh - Hana Sweid - Dov Khenin
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