About Us
The Galilee Society
The Galilee Society
The Galilee Society – The Arab National Society for Health, Research and Services (R.A.) – is a leading Palestinian Arab non-partisan, community-wide, non-governmental organization, located in Shefa-Amr, Israel. It was established by four healthcare professionals in 1981, with the mission of empowering the Palestinian community.
The over-riding goal is to achieve safe and sustainable living, equitable health, environmental and socio-economic conditions, and to increase development opportunities for the Palestinian society in Israel, both as individual citizens and as a national minority living in their homeland. We do so through research, scientific innovation, new initiatives, raising awareness in fields of education, health and environment, as well as advocacy. Today, the Galilee Society is a source of information, knowledge, and cooperation with a wide audience, including researchers, students, schools, local authorities, civil society institutions, government ministries, academic institutes, research institutes, and others.
The Galilee Society is known among the Palestinian and research community as a pioneering institution in the field of academic, biotechnological and social scientific research, through which it seeks to find solutions to environmental and social problems such as olive oil waste, treatment of industrial sewers, medicinal herbs, biological energy, community violence, health and housing.
The Institute of Applied Research
The Institute of Applied Research
(IAR) is the strategic scientific project of the Galilee Society. It was founded in 1995 as the first Research and Development Center in the Palestinian-Arab community in Israel.
The IAR is academically affiliated with the University of Haifa, and is supported financially by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Undergraduate and graduate students conduct their research at the IAR.
The Institute focuses mainly on community-centered projects that address the environmental and health issues of the general population, but with special focus on the issues of the Arab population in Israel. The IAR’s research is carried out in collaboration with local, regional and international research organizations and universities.
Researchers at the Institute conduct basic and applied research on topics related to health, water conservation, environmental biotechnology, applied biotechnology, agriculture, renewable energy, and medicinal herbs. Scientists at the IAR come from varied backgrounds in Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Microbiology, Plant Pathology, Chemistry, Plant Physiology, Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Public Health.
