Yossi (Joseph) Alpher ( he, יוסי אלפר) is an Israeli columnist and writer on Israel-related

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

strategic issues. Alpher is best known as the author of the prize winnin
Periphery: Israel's Search for Middle East Allies
as well as coeditor o
Bitterlemons
in collaboration with Ghassan Khatib, a former vice president of

Bir Zeit University Birzeit University (BZU; ar, جامعة بيرزيت) is a public university in the West Bank, in the State of Palestine, registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs as charitable organization. It is accredited by the Ministry of Hi ...

. In recent years, Alpher has been extensively interviewed in documentaries about the

Mossad Mossad ( , ), ; ar, الموساد, al-Mōsād, ; , short for ( he, המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, links=no), meaning 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations'. is the national intelligence agency ...

.(2018)
The Mossad: Imperfect Spies
''

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Biography

Alpher graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1964 before serving in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

as an Intelligence officer, followed by service in the Mossad. From 1981 to 1995, he was associated with the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies (JCSS) at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

, ultimately serving as director of the center.(20 November 2007)
Bring Syria into the talks
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' (column by Alpher includes this biographical sentence from the ''Times'': "Yossi Alpher is former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University and a former special adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Barak.") While at the Jaffee Center, Alpher coordinated and coedited the JCSS research project on options for a Palestinian settlement, and produced "The Alpher Plan" for an Israeli-Palestinian territorial settlement. From 1995 to 2000 he served as director of the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...

's Israel/Middle East Office in Jerusalem. In July 2000 (during the

2000 Camp David Summit The 2000 Camp David Summit was a summit meeting at Camp David between United States president Bill Clinton, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat. The summit took place between 11 and 25 July 2000 a ...

) he served as Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel, working with Prime Minister

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( he-a, אֵהוּד בָּרָק, Ehud_barak.ogg, link=yes, born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli general and politician who served as the tenth prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until Jan ...

on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Alpher writes ''Hard Questions, Tough Answers'', a weekly security Q&A for ''

Americans for Peace Now Americans for Peace Now (APN) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States whose stated aim is to help achieve a comprehensive political resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Founded in 1981 as the sister organization to ...

''.

Published works

* ''And The Wolf Shall Dwell With The Wolf: the Settlers and the Palestinians'' (Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2001, Hebrew). * ''Periphery: Israel's Search for Middle East Allies'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015). * ''Medina Bodeda'' (Matar Publications, 2015, Hebrew). * ''No End of Conflict: Rethinking Israel-Palestine'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). * ''Winners and Losers in the ‘Arab Spring’: Profiles in Chaos'' (Routledge, 2020).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alpher, Yossi Israeli non-fiction writers Israeli–Palestinian peace process Living people People of the Mossad 1942 births Columbia College (New York) alumni