Shlomo Ben-Ami
Shlomo Ben-Ami | |
---|---|
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
Faction represented in the Knesset | |
1996–1999 | Labor Party |
1999–2001 | One Israel |
2001–2002 | Labor Party |
Personal details | |
Born | Tangier International Zone (during the Spanish occupation of Tangier) | 17 July 1943
Shlomo Ben-Ami (Hebrew: שלמה בן עמי; born 17 July 1943) is a former Israeli diplomat, politician, and historian.
Biography
Shlomo Benabou (later Ben-Ami) was born in Tangier, Morocco.[1] He immigrated to Israel in 1955. He was educated at Tel Aviv University and St Antony's College, Oxford from which he received a D.Phil. in history.[1] Ben-Ami speaks fluent Hebrew, Spanish, French, and English.
Academic career
He was a historian at Tel Aviv University from the mid-1970s, serving as head of the School of History from 1982 to 1986. His initial field of study was Spanish history; his 1983 biography of the former Spanish dictator (1923–30), General Primo de Rivera, is recognized as the most authoritative study on this subject. He later turned his attention to the history of Israel and the Middle East, leaving a legacy of expertise in Spanish interwar politics.
Diplomatic and political career
From 1987 until 1991, before he entered politics, he was
When the
Ben-Ami remained Foreign Minister and Security Minister until March 2001, when, having won elections, Ariel Sharon took over from Barak. Ben-Ami refused to serve in the Sharon government and resigned from the Knesset in August 2002.
In their report published in 2003, the
Ben-Ami is currently Vice-President of the Toledo International Centre for Peace (TICpax), which, according to its mission statement, "seeks to contribute to the prevention and resolution of violent or potentially violent international or intranational conflicts and to the consolidation of peace, within a framework of respect and promotion of Human Rights and democratic values."[3]
Ben-Ami is the author of
Later career
He currently serves as vice president of the Toledo International Centre for Peace of which he is a co-founder.[5] Through the center, he has been involved in conflict resolution processes such as among others, in Colombia, Dominican Republic ( the tensions with Haiti ), Bolivia ( intercultural issues ), Russia-Georgia, Libya ; Spanish Sahara, and Israel-the Arab world.[5] He is now also the co-chair ( together with ex-chief of Mossad Efraim Halevi ) of an Israeli commission for strategic planning. He has lectured extensively in international conferences in Europe, Russia, the U.S. and Latin America.[6] He is a regular contributor to Project Syndicate since 2006.
Interviews
In an interview on Democracy Now!, Dr. Ben-Ami described how his perspective differs from that of the New Historians:
[T]he justification for the creation of a Jewish state, however tough the conditions and however immoral the consequences were for the Palestinians. You see, it is there that I tend to differ from the interpretation of the new historians. They have made an incredible contribution, a very, very important contribution to our understanding of the origins of the state of Israel, but at the same time, my view is that this is how—unfortunately, tragically, sadly—nations were born throughout history.
He goes on to describe his perspective on the goal of the peace process and it's outcome:
And our role, the role of this generation—this is why I came into politics and why I try to make my very modest contribution to the peace process—is that we need to bring an end to this injustice that has been done to the Palestinians. We need to draw a line between an Israeli state, a sovereign Palestinian state, and solve the best way we can the problem, by giving the necessary compensation to the refugees, by bringing back the refugees to the Palestinian state, no way to the state of Israel, not because it is immoral, but because it is not feasible, it is not possible. We need to act in a realistic way and see what are the conditions for a final peace deal. I believe that we came very, very close to that final peace deal. Unfortunately, we didn't make it. But we came very close in the year 2001.[7]
Published works
- The Origins of the Second Republic in Spain (Oxford University Press, 1978).
- Fascism from Above: Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in Spain, 1923–1930 (Oxford University Press, 1983)
- Spain between Dictatorship and Democracy (1980)
- Anatomia de una Transición [Anatomy of a Transition] (1990) (in Spanish)
- Italy between Liberalism and Fascism (1986)
- Historia del Estado de Israel -junto a Zvi Medin- (Ediciones Rialp, 1981).
- Quel avenir pour Israël? [Which Future for Israel?], (Presses Universitaires de France, 2001) (Hachette Littérature 2002), ISBN 2-01-279104-2. (in French)
- A Front Without a Homefront: A Voyage to the Boundaries of the Peace Process (Yedioth Ahatonoth, Tel-Aviv, 2004).
- ISBN 0-19-518158-1.
- Prophets Without Honor (Oxford University Press 2022)
References
- ^ a b c d "Shlomo Ben-Ami". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
- ^ Shlomo Ben Ami. Insufficient action; Sheikh Ra'ed Salah. Used propaganda Haaretz
- ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
- ^ Labor figureheads to support Meretz in upcoming elections Haaretz, 10 November 2008
- ^ a b Israel versus America versus Iran | US & Canada | Al Jazeera
- ^ "Shlomo Ben-Ami | Columbia | SIPA". Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- ^ "Norman Finkelstein & Shlomo Ben-Ami: Complete Transcript". Democracy Now!. 8 March 2006. Archived from the original on 8 March 2006. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
External links
- Shlomo Ben-Ami on the Knesset website
- Column archives at Project Syndicate
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- The Rise and Fall of the Oslo Process, University of Utah lecture, 2 March 2004
- Debate with Democracy Now, 14 February 2006
- Toledo International Centre for Peace – TICpax