Zvi Elpeleg (1926 – 27 June 2015) was an academic, author, and a senior researcher at the Dayan Institute 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 ...

. Born in Poland, Elpeleg served as a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in the

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

and later received an ambassadorial appointment. Elpeleg was born in 1926 in Baranow,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

to his parents Rivka (née Zayfntreger) and Yosef Elphlang. His father was a carpenter and his mother a house wife. Elpeleg was the second of four siblings: Hadasa (1924), David (1928) and Yerachmiel (1929). In 1934 the family came to Israel and settled in the Makabi-Tzrifim neighbourhood in Jaffa. Following David Ben-Gurion instruction that officers should change their family name to a Hebrew one, Elpeleg changed his name from Elphlang to Elpeleg. In the mid-1950s Elpeleg was the military governor of the Triangle and from 1956 to 1957 the military governor of Gaza. He became Israel's first military governor of the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

in 1967. He would repeat the role during the Israeli occupation of the Fayid region in Egypt in 1973, and again in occupied South Lebanon in 1982. He served as Israel's ambassador to Turkey from 1995 to 1997. He entered academia as an

Arabist An Arabist is someone, often but not always from outside the Arab world, who specialises in the study of the Arabic language and culture (usually including Arabic literature). Origins Arabists began in medieval Muslim Spain, which lay on the ...

and, since 1972, he has been attached as senior researcher to the Dayan Institute. He has authored a biography of

Haj Amin al-Husseini Mohammed Amin al-Husseini ( ar, محمد أمين الحسيني 1897 – 4 July 1974) was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in Mandatory Palestine. Al-Husseini was the scion of the al-Husayni family of Jerusalemite Arab notable ...

, which is considered one of the standard works on the man. Zvi Elpeleg served as chairman of the Turkey-Israel Friendship Association and was appointed Turkey's honorary consul to Tel Aviv by the former Turkish president

Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Sami Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the ...

in gratitude for the role he played in overseeing Israeli IDF Aid for Turkish Earthquake Victims in August 1999. He was married to the poet Michal Snunit. Elpeleg died on 27 June 2015.

References

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, 6 January 2008. 2015 deaths 1926 births Ambassadors of Israel to Turkey Israeli colonels Israeli historians Israeli Jews Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli Arabists {{Israel-historian-stub