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Itamar Rabinovich

(1942-)

Itamar Rabinovich was born in Jerusalem in 1942. He is the incumbent of the Ettinger Chair of Contemporary Middle Eastern History of Tel Aviv University. In 2007 he completed an eight year term as the University's President. Prof. Rabinovich has been a member of Tel Aviv University faculty since 1971 and served as Chairman of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Director of the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Dean of Humanities and Rector. He progressed through the academic ranks and was promoted to full Professor of Middle Eastern History.

Professor Rabinovich is the author of numerous books and other academic works. He is the author of six books on the Modern History and Politics of the Middle East and the co-author and co-editor of several other volumes. His most recent books are The Brink of Peace: Israel and Syria, Waging Peace:Israel and the Arabs, 1948-2003 (Princeton University Press), and The View from Damascus (Valentine Mitchell, 2008).

Over the years, Professor Rabinovich held numerous public positions in Israel and in other countries. Prof. Rabinovich was Israel's Chief Negotiator with Syria under the late Yitzhak Rabin and Ambassador in Washington from 1993-96. He is currently Chairman of the Board of the Dan David Foundation, Distinguished Global Professor at NYU, a member of the Advisory Council of APCO WORLDWIDE, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Wexner-Israel Program, a member of the Trilateral Commission, a member of the International Advisory Board of the Brookings Institution in Washington, and a member of the International Advisory Board of The American Interest. He is the Vice Chairman of the INSS (Institute for National Security Studies), an an external institute of TAU, and a senior research fellow at the Dayan Center for Middle-Eastern studies.  He is co-editor of the Center's new review journal, Bustan.

Professor Rabinovich has held visiting appointments in several academic institutions, including the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Toronto. He was for several years the Andrew White Professor at Large at Cornell University, and has recently served as Visiting Professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is currently a distinguished Global Professor at New York University and a non-resident Distinguished Fellow at the Saban Center, Brookings Institution.

Professor Rabinovich is a member of the American Philosophical Society and a foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been awarded the Honorary Grand Golden Cross of the Austrian Republic and has been made by the Government of the French Republic a Commandeur l'ordre des Palmes Académiques.


Sources: Jerusalem Post, (June 28, 2001); Tel Aviv University