Talal Alkernawi

Talal Alkernawi (Arabic: طلال القريناوي, Hebrew: טלאל קרינאוי, other spellings: Talal Alkrinawi or Talal Al karnawi; born 1954) is an Arab-Muslim Israeli politician. He has served as the mayor of Rahat various times since 1993.

Talal Alkernawi
طلال القريناوي
Talal Alkernawi
Mayor of Rahat
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 March 2024
In office 2013–2018
In office 2001 1993 – 2001 1998
Personal details
Born	Talal Alkernawi 1954 Israel
Political party	Labor (1977–present)
Other political affiliations	Kadima (formerly)
Children	6
Education	Bachelor of Laws, Ono Academic College (BA)

Early life

He was born (1954) and raised in Rahat.

Career

Talal Alkernawi mayor of Rahat

Alkernawi started his career in a local bank. He was quickly promoted and became a bank manager at the age of 25. He served as a bank manager for a few years and then went on to politics.

In 1977, he joined the Israeli Labor Party.

In 1989, he ran for office in the city of Rahat. He was not elected, although he became the deputy mayor. In 1993, he was elected for the first time as the Mayor of Rahat. In his first period of office, Rahat's status was changed from a small local municipality to a city.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, he participated in the Oslo accords, and was Yitzhak Rabin's advisor as an Arabic-speaking politician.

Mayoralty

City size & land

During his tenure in Office for the years of 2013-2018, the city grew by 21,000 dunam which meant it doubled its size. This was done by an agreement with a municipality near by to pass land in order for Rahat to grow.

Economy

The unemployment rate went down from 34% in 2013 to 11% in 2018. Thanks to founding Idan HaNegev and recruiting SodaStream to bring their factory to Rahat and employ over 2,500 employees.

Tax collection

In 2006, Rahat was able to collect municipality taxes from only 59% of its residents. In 2018, the local municipality collected local tax from 90% of its residents which helped grow its income and budget.

Culture

Built the first country club (swimming pool and recreational center) in Rahat.^[1][2]

Education

In terms of education, when he took office in 2013 only 40% of Rahats students finished school with matriculation examination certificate. In 2018, 56% finished with a matriculation examination certificate. In addition, in 2013, only 0.7% of the school students finished with the highest level of English certificate. In 2018, the percentage grew to 8.4%.

Tourism

In 2015, the municipality cooperating with government ministries started to develop tourists trips in Rahat.^[3]

Personal life

Alkernawi lives in Rahat, is married and has six children. He is the brother of Prof. Alean Al Krenawi.

Political views

Alkernawi is known to express his views supporting coexistence living between Arabs and Jews in Israel.^[4] He was a member of two different center-left wing parties (Kadima and Labor party).

In 2017, he publicly offered to absorb Syrian refugees to Rahat, and offered them work in the city.^[5][6]