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Reuven Merhav,(Born: 1936, Tel Aviv), is an Israeli diplomat, intelligence official and an expert on Islam and the Middle East.

He served in Israeli intelligence from 1961 to 1983 in missions overseas in Ethiopia, Kenya and Iran before the Islamic revolution. He was Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1988 to 1991 and of the Ministry of Immigrants Absorption from 1992 to 1993. A fellow of JIIS – the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies since 1995 till present, he was called by Prime Minister Barak to the 2000 Camp David Summit in an effort to end the Israelo-Palestinian conflict. He was appointed as a member of Justice (ret.) Y. Turkel Commission of Inquiry on the Maritime Incident of May 2010 off the Gaza shore.

Merhav is a graduate of the School of History at Tel Aviv University and of 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 in a paratrooper commando unit which was active in reprisal operations carried out by the Israel Defense Forces 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.

He served 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 served in Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Teheran. He then was appointed to another position at headquarters. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served in a diplomatic mission in Lebanon from 1983 to 1984 advising during wartime which had ramifications on Israel. He served 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 peace agreement, has laid foundation to 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 then served as Director General of Ministry of Immigrants Absorption from 1992 to 1993, when the Ministry focused on the integration of the Ethiopian Community in Israel.

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The son of Jewish parents who escaped Nazi Germany, he is the 11th and current Chair of the Presidium of the Association of Israelis of Central European Origin and a member of the Board of Directors of the Claims Conference.

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 ESLI - European Sho'ah Legacy Institute 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.

A fellow of JIIS – the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies since 1995, he played a leading role in developing metropolitan and political options within a permanent status agreement. In that capacity he was called by P.M. Barak to the July 2000 Camp David summit. He co-authored “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 I.D.F., Intelligence Community and Foreign Affairs officials, academics and experts, committed to 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 enterprise of the Ethiopian Community, the Government of Israel and world Jewry, to advance education among Ethiopian youth from 2002 to 2007.

He served with “OTRI’ - the Operational Theory Research Institute, an IDF organ, as advisor and tutor on geo-political subjects from 1999 to 2007. He lectured at the Hebrew University Federmann Graduate School of Public Policy and Government from 2006 to 2008.

Since 1993, he has served on various public committees and organs, including the National Labour Court. In 2000, he served on the panel selecting recipients of the Israel Prize, in the category of ‘Special contribution to state and society'.

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