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Reuven Merhav | |
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 Reuven Merhav | |
| Born | 1936 Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine |
Reuven Merhav (born 1936 in Tel Aviv), is an Israeli diplomat, intelligence official and an expert on Islam and the Middle East.
Merhav is the son of Jewish parents who escaped Nazi Germany. He graduated from the School of History at Tel Aviv University and from the Institute of Asian and African Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he was elected President of the National Union of Israeli Students, before earning his degree in Islamic Studies, Middle Eastern history and Arabic language and literature.
He previously served, as part of his compulsory military service, in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in a paratrooper commando unit which was active in reprisal operations carried out by the IDF in the 1950s and 1960s in response to frequent Fedayeen terror attacks. In 1956, Merhav returned to Kibbutz Dvir in southern Israel, where he was part of its Israeli founding group.
Merhav worked in Israeli intelligence from 1961 to 1983 in missions overseas in Ethiopia, Kenya and Iran before the Iranian Revolution. He was Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1988 to 1991. A fellow of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies (JIIS) since 1995 till present, he was called by Prime Minister Ehud Barak to the 2000 Camp David Summit in an effort to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was appointed as a member of the Turkel Commission, [1] which investigated the Gaza flotilla raid, and the Blockade of Gaza.
He worked in Israeli intelligence from 1961 to 1983 specializing mainly in the Horn of Africa and the wide Middle East. Following a few years at headquarters, he was posted to Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Teheran. He then was appointed to another position at headquarters. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and worked in a diplomatic mission in Lebanon from 1983 to 1984, advising during the Lebanon War which had ramifications[ clarification needed ] for Israel. He worked in Hong Kong from 1985 to 1988 fostering paths to China prior to establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and the People’s Republic of China.
Merhav was Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1988 to 1991. In this capacity, he was chief negotiator in the Taba negotiations with Egypt about withdrawal from Sinai as part of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, which laid foundations for the establishment of diplomatic relations with China; established the first Israeli mission in Beijing in 1991, and negotiated diplomatic and administrative terms to allow "Operation Solomon" to rescue the Jewish community in Ethiopia in May 1991. He was then appointed Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption from 1992 to 1993, when the Ministry focused on the integration of Ethiopian Jews in Israel.
He worked at the Operational Theory Research Institute, an IDF organ, as advisor and tutor on geopolitical subjects from 1999 to 2007.
He lectured at the Hebrew University's Federmann Graduate School of Public Policy and Government from 2006 to 2008.
Merhav is the 11th and current Chair of the Presidium of the Association of Israelis of Central European Origin, [2] [ failed verification ] and a member of the Board of Directors of the Claims Conference. [3]
In 2009, he was appointed leader of the Israeli delegation to the 2009 Holocaust Era Assets Conference (HEAC), convened in Prague under the auspices of the Czech Republic. He is special advisor to the Head of the European Sho'ah Legacy Institute (ESLI) in Prague, the monitoring organ for HEAC resolutions. He was nominated by the foreign minister of the Czech Republic as member of the ESLI Honorary Board in 2015. [4]
He co-wrote "The Role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in a Future Permanent Status Settlement in Jerusalem: Legal, Political and Practical Aspects".
In 2001, he was elected to the executive committee of the Council for Peace and Security. This is a non-partisan body of retired IDF, intelligence community and foreign affairs officials, academics and experts, for promotion of regional peace arrangements.
He was the founding and first chairman of the executive committee of the Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yezreel from 1995 to 2000 as well as the founding and first chairman of the Ethiopian National Project, a tripartite project of the Ethiopian Community, the Government of Israel and world Jewry, to advance education among Ethiopian youth from 2002 to 2007.
Since 1993, he has been a member of various public committees and organs, including the National Labour Court.
In 2000, he was a member of the panel selecting recipients of the Israel Prize, in the category of 'Special contribution to state and society'.
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak was an Israeli military officer and politician. He served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, as a Member of the Knesset, and as Minister of Transportation and Minister of Tourism.
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Yuval Steinitz is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Likud party. He also held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Finance, Minister of Intelligence, Minister of Strategic Affairs and Minister of Energy. Steinitz holds a PhD in philosophy and has been a senior lecturer at the University of Haifa.
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Shabtai Rosenne was a Professor of International Law and an Israeli diplomat. Rosenne was awarded the 1960 Israel Prize for Jurisprudence, the 1999 Manley O. Hudson Medal for International Law and Jurisprudence, the 2004 Hague Prize for International Law and the 2007 Distinguished Onassis Scholar Award. He was the leading scholar of the World Court - the PCIJ and ICJ and had a widely recognized expertise in treaty law, state responsibility, self-defence, UNCLOS and other issues of international law.
The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six civilian ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Nine of the flotilla passengers were killed during the raid, with thirty wounded. Ten Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously. The exact sequence of events is contested, in part due to the IDF's confiscation of the passengers' photographic evidence. The flotilla, organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İHH), was carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials, intending to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The Turkel Commission was an inquiry set up by Israeli Government to investigate the Gaza flotilla raid, and the Blockade of Gaza. It was led by Israeli retired Supreme Court Judge Jacob Turkel. The other initial members of the commission were former President of the Technion and military expert, Amos Horev, and professor of international law, Shabtai Rosenne, who died in September 2010. The probe was overseen by two International observers: William David Trimble, former Leader of the Northern Irish Ulster Unionist Party and Northern Irish First Minister, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Canadian former military judge Ken Watkin.
Amos Horev is an Israeli military official and expert. He served as a commander in the Palmach the elite force of the Haganah before the founding of the state, and was later an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Major-General, Chief of Ordnance and subsequently Quartermaster General and Chief Scientist of the IDF, nuclear scientist, President of Technion University, and Chairman of Rafael. In June 2010, he was appointed to the Israeli special independent Turkel Commission of Inquiry into the Gaza flotilla raid.
Yigal Palmor is the Head of the International Relations Unit and Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chairman at the Jewish Agency for Israel, where he had previously served for four years as Director of Public Affairs and Communications. He was the longest serving Spokesperson and Head of Press Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel from August 2008 to August 2014. Prior to this post, he served stints in Israel's embassies in Madrid and in Paris, served as Deputy Director of the European Institutions department, and later as Director of the Maghreb, Syria and Lebanon department. He was a spokesperson of the Israeli delegations in a number of peace summits, including the Casablanca and Cairo Regional Economic Summits and the Annapolis Conference. In February 2013, he was elected "Best Government Spokesperson" in a survey of Israeli journalists.
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