Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed

Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed is the executive director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. A recognized leader in renewable energy technology and regional cooperation, he launched and led the Institute’s Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation, and served as the institute’s academic director. One of the leaders of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s Climate Forum, co-chairing the task force on Regional Cooperation and Security, he is the recipient of the 2024 American Association for the Advancement of Science’s David and Betty Hamburg Award for Science Diplomacy. Named one of “48 Israelis shaping Israel and the world, today and into the future” by Israel 21c in April 2023, he first joined the Arava Institute in 2008, when he established the Arava Institute’s Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation. He left the institute in 2013 to become the Israeli Ministry of Science’s Deputy Chief Scientist, and later, the acting chief scientist — the highest-ranking Palestinian in the Israeli government at that time. He returned to the Arava Institute in 2016. Today, he is recognized as a leader in regional environmental diplomacy and a sought-after speaker at international convenings, including most recently at the United Nations COP28. Abu Hamed holds a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Science in chemical engineering from Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey, as well as a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Ankara University in Turkey. He has completed two terms of postdoctoral research: one at the Environmental Science and Energy Research Department of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and the second at the University of Minnesota’s Mechanical Engineering Department Solar Energy Lab. He also holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Essays

A child making peace signs sits amidst rubble and debris under a clear blue sky.

Jumpstarting Hope in Gaza: The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

July 5, 2024

This initiative will support the establishment of “Green Refugee Shelters” to house thousands of internally displaced Gazans.

Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed

Essays

Jumpstarting Hope in Gaza: The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

Sign up for our newsletter

The Reconstructionist Network

Read & Rite

Havaya Summer Programs

Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

Placement Office

Reconstructionist Educators of North America