Zvi Elpeleg is an Israeli academic, currently a senior researcher at the Dayan Institute, part of Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...

. He was a colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 in the Israeli army, and later an ambassador and author.

In the mid-1950s, he was the military governor of the Triangle

Triangle (Israel)

The Triangle , formerly referred to as the Little Triangle, is a concentration of Israeli Arab towns and villages adjacent to the Green Line, located in the eastern Sharon plain among the Samarian foothills; this area is located within the easternmost boundaries of both the Center District and...

 and later the military governor of Gaza

Gaza

Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

 from 1956 to 1957. He became Israel's first military governor of the West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

 in 1967. He would repeat the role during the Israeli occupation of Faid, Egypt in 1973, and again in occupied South Lebanon in 1982.

He served as Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

's ambassador

Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....

 to Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 from 1995 to 1997.

He later entered academia, becoming an Arabist

Arabist

This is an article about the western scholars known as Arabists, not the political movement Pan-Arabism.An Arabist is someone normally from outside the Arab World who specialises in the study of the Arabic language and Arab culture, and often Arabic literature.-Origins:Arabists began in medieval...

. Since 1972 he has been a senior researcher at the Dayan Institute He authored a biography of Mohammad Amin al-Husayni

Mohammad Amin al-Husayni

Haj Mohammed Effendi Amin el-Husseini was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in the British Mandate of Palestine. From as early as 1920, in order to secure the independence of Palestine as an Arab state he actively opposed Zionism, and was implicated as a leader of a violent riot...

.

Zvi Elpeleg serves as Turkey-Israel Friendship Association chairman and has been appointed as Turkey's honorary consul to Tel Aviv by the former Turkish president Suleyman Demirel

Süleyman Demirel

Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel, better known as Süleyman Demirel , is a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister seven times and was the ninth President of Turkey.-Life:Demirel was born in İslamköy, a town in Isparta Province...

as a gratitude for his role in the Israeli IDF Aid for Turkish Earthquake Victims August 1999.

External links

• Zvi Elpeleg, Why was 'Independent Palestine' Never Created in 1948 ?, published in The Jerusalem Quarterly, 50, Spring 1989, retrieved from Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, January 6, 2008.