Tawfiq Saeed Jabareen (born in 1967 in Umm al-Fahm) is a Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist and specialist in land, planning and construction issues. Many Palestinians appear before Israeli courts in cases related to demolition orders against Palestinian homes and confiscation of land by the Israeli occupation in the West Bank.

educational upbringing
He was born in 1967 in Umm al-Fahm, studied at the Abu Khader primary school and finished secondary school at the Arab Orthodox College in Haifa. He received his bachelor's degree in law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1989, and a master's degree from the American University in Washington in 1993.

career path
He began his legal career in a human rights institution in Jerusalem, where he advocated for Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in land and housing issues, and then worked in the Committee of Forty in Haifa and established within its framework the legal center to defend the rights of unrecognized villages within the Green Line.

lands of the soul
Attorney Tawfiq Jabarin is one of the founders of the Committee for the Defense of Al-Rawha Lands, which defended the lands of Al-Rawha in Wadi Ara and obligated the state, after the bloody events of Al-Rawha on 27.09.1998, to retract its decision to confiscate the lands of Al-Rawha, and to cancel the military order to close these lands and prevent their owners from entering them. In the year 2000, the Al-Rawha Agreement was signed, under which the rights were returned to the people of Umm al-Fahm, including the annexation of more than 10,000 dunams of al-Rawha lands to the sphere of influence of the Arab authorities in Wadi Ara. The Al-Rawha Committee is still making great efforts in defending the lands of Al-Rawha against the plans of Judaization and confiscation of the land, the last of which was the project to extend the electricity line on the lands of Al-Rawha.

Lawyer Tawfiq Saeed is one of the founders of the People's Committee for the Defense of Land and Housing in Wadi Ara in 2007, which was able to protect many of the homes subject to demolition in Wadi Ara.

ss
In 1994, attorney Tawfiq Jabarin achieved a historic achievement after he succeeded in buying a house in the Jewish town of Katzir, after legal and media deliberations, and after the settlement’s admission committee rejected Tawfiq Jabarin’s request to live in Katzir, on the pretext that he was an Arab and claiming that Katzir was intended for Jews only. He and his family lived in their home in Katzir for five years, and the house is still owned by them to this day. Lawyer Tawfiq Jabarin was the initiator in the case of Adel Qaadan, whose request to purchase a building plot in Katzir was rejected. The Supreme Court issued its historic decision in 2000 accepting Qa’adan’s petition against the Israel Lands Administration and obligating it to allow Arab citizens to purchase building plots in Jewish towns.

centipede
Since 2008 until today, lawyer Tawfiq Saeed has pleaded on behalf of the people of Umm Al-Qatf and Maysir villages against the expansion of the city of "Harish" and succeeded in canceling several plans to confiscate hundreds of dunams of Palestinian residents' property. Lawyer Tawfiq Saeed, in cooperation with some human rights organizations, succeeded in transforming Harish into a city for all citizens and canceling the government's decision to allocate it to Haredi Jews only.

West Bank
He represented Jabarin Palestinians from the West Bank in issues related to land, housing, and resistance to settlements, on the authority of the Committee to Combat the Wall and Settlements in the Palestinian National Authority. He also works as an advisor on planning and construction issues to the Palestinian Ministry of Local Government. Among the most prominent cases that lawyer Tawfiq Saeed dealt with is the case of Khan al-Ahmar, canceling the confiscation of 2,000 dunums of palm lands in Jericho, the recovery of 4,000 dunums of Sakoot lands near the Jordan River, and the evacuation of settlers from the lands of the Qa`un plain north of Bardala.

local business
He was elected as a member of the Umm al-Fahm city council on the list of "Umm al-Fahm for All" in October 2018.

He also served as the head of the secondary committee in the local committee for planning and construction in Wadi Ara between the years 2014-2017, during which he was able to make major reforms and improve the administrative work of the committee despite the many obstacles he faced, especially from representatives of the Umm al-Fahm municipality administration at the time.

In 2016, attorney Tawfiq Saeed Jabareen initiated a new law to connect unlicensed homes to electricity, which suits the planning situation of Arab towns in general and all Arab towns in Wadi Ara, and will lead to connecting all these unlicensed homes to the electricity grid.

Through his work in the Wadi Ara local committee, lawyer Tawfiq Saeed Jabarin, with the participation of the local committee engineer, Dr. Enaya Banna, initiated a huge planning project, “Fatmal” Ain Jarrar, which includes 2,300 acres, starting from Al-Arayesh and Ain Jarrar and ending with Al-Aqwas Street, and where the Israeli government approved this project. And at a cost of 23 million shekels to plan the project, financed by the Ministry of Finance. Through this project, more than 1,070 homes will be licensed in Ain Jarrar, Al-Arayesh, and Al-Aqwas. Building plots will be prepared for 3,500 housing units for young couples, and an operating area, trade and public buildings will be approved in the area located in the woods north of Qatayen Al-Shumer.