Maurice M. Roumani, born in Benghazi, Libya, is Professor of Politics and International Relations, Religion and Society of the Middle East and the Founder of the J. R. Elyachar Center for Studies in Sephardi Heritage at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. He specializes in Ethnic Relations in Israel, Jews of Arab countries, the Middle East Conflict, and he is an expert on the History of Libyan Jews, Jewish-Muslim Relations and the impact of Holocaust policies in North Africa.
Roumani had his first education at the Hebrew School and when it closed down he continued his education at the Italian Istituto De La Salle. He received a Wien International Scholarship to study at Brandeis University in the United States. With the worsening political situation in Libya, Roumani arranged first for his brother and then for the rest of the family to join him in the US.
Roumani received his B.A. with Honors from Brandeis University and his M.A. from The University of Chicago, where he studied International Relations and the Middle East with Hans Morgenthau and Leonard Binder. Following his studies at The Chicago school of Janowitz, Binder and Shils he continued at the School of African and Asian Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. Under the supervision of P. J. Vatikiotis, he received his Ph. D. about the absorption and integration of different social groups as reflected in the non-military functions of the Israeli army.
He was offered a teaching position at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he established in 1981 the J. R. Elyachar Center for the Study of Sephardi Heritage. The center offered 22 courses in Sephardi history, literature, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, ladino and music. [1]
In addition to Ben-Gurion University, Roumani held teaching positions at George Washington University, American University, Hebrew University (Truman Institute), University of Maryland, University of Oklahoma, Università di Roma Tre, Gratz College and Collegio Rabbinico Italiano in Rome, Italy. [2]
He also held research positions at the Middle East Institute of Harvard University, [3] at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM) of the University of Maryland, [4] at the Oxford Center for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies of Oxford University,. [5]
Roumani continues his research projects about Libya and Libyan Jewry, the role of Colonialism and Arab Nationalism in North African and the Middle East, the Arab-Israel Conflict, ethnic relations, the applications of Holocaust policies in North Africa and Jewish-Muslim relations in the Modern period.
In the 20th century, approximately 900000 Jews migrated, fled, or were expelled from Muslim-majority countries throughout Africa and Asia. Primarily a consequence of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the mass movement mainly transpired from 1948 to the early 1970s, with one final exodus of Iranian Jews occurring shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979–1980. An estimated 650000 (72%) of these Jews resettled in Israel.
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Yitzhak Rachamim Navon was an Israeli politician, diplomat, playwright, and author. He served as the fifth President of Israel between 1978 and 1983 as a member of the centre-left Alignment party. He was the first Israeli president born in Jerusalem and the first Sephardi Jew to serve in that office.
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Mario Liverani, is an Italian historian and Professor of Ancient Near East History at the University of Rome La Sapienza. He is a member of many institutions, such as the American Oriental Society, Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, and doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Copenhagen and the Autonomous University of Madrid.
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Asher Salah is an Israeli historian. He is one of the leading specialists in the literature of the Italian Jews, and a translator of Hebrew literature. He has written extensively in cinema studies and contemporary Middle East politics working as a columnist for several Italian newspapers.
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