Yehoshua Porath (; January 13, 1938 – November 24, 2019) was an Israeli historian and professor of

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

history.

Academic career

Yehoshua Porath was a lecturer in the History of Muslim Countries at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. He specialized in the history of

Palestinian nationalism Palestinian nationalism is the national movement of the Palestinian people that espouses Palestinian self-determination, self-determination and sovereignty over the region of Palestine.de Waart, 1994p. 223 Referencing Article 9 of ''The Pales ...

. Porat won the Landau Prize and the Ben-Zvi Prize for his book on Yonatan Ratosh. His other research included: * Communism in Arab Israeli communities * Maronite Peasants' Revolt in Lebanon 1858-1860 * Palestine, Arab unity and British policy 1930–1945

Political views

Porath was on the

Meretz Meretz (, ; ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed in 1992 by the merger of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was at its peak between 1992 and 1996 when it had 12 seats. It had no seats in the Knesset following its failure ...

list in the 1992 Israeli elections for the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

. He later readjusted his political views. He opposed the

Oslo accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995. They marked the st ...

between PLO and Israel. In the 1996 elections he participated in the campaign of the

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

party and supported

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

for prime minister. The change in his political affiliations came due to the issue of whether or not the PLO would change the anti-Israel articles in its covenant. Porath was asked to translate recordings of the meeting of the

Palestine National Council The Palestinian National Council (PNC; ) is the legislative body - in Arabic, the ''Majlis'' - of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PNC is intended to serve as the parliament that represents all Palestinians inside and outside th ...

which had pledged to make the changes. Porath argued they had not, despite the Meretz and Labor parties insisting that they had. Since 1967 he argued that peace must be reached with Jordan and that this could not be done with representatives of Palestinian Arabs. Porath defined himself as a "moderate, liberal and secular center man." He opposed the reestablishment of Jewish community in Gaza after the Six Day War, but opposed their forced removal in the Disengagement of 2005. He was active in the Secular Movement and the Free People's Movement and had been an active member of the Shinui party. ''Haaretz'' reported that his wife said he "loved the Bible as a text."

Personal life

He lived in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, and was married to Penina. They had two children. He died on November 24, 2019, in Jerusalem and was buried the next day in Kibbutz Nahshon cemetery.

Published works in English

* ''The Emergence of the Palestinian-Arab National Movement, 1918–1929'', Cass (1974) * ''In Search of Arab Unity, 1930–1945'', Cass (1986)

Published works in Hebrew

* ''Social Aspects in the Growth of the Palestinian Arab Movement'' Jerusalem: Homol, 1971. * ''Growth of the Palestinian Arab National Movement: 1929-1918'', Tel Aviv: Am Oved Publishing, 1976. * ''From riots to rebellion: Palestinian National Arab Movement 1939-1929'', Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1969. * In the test of political action: Israel, Arab unity and British policy 1930–1945. Jerusalem: Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi , 1985. * ''Shelach and pen in hand: The story of Uriel Shelach's life ( Yonatan Ratosh ).'' Tel Aviv: Literary Notebooks , 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Porath, Yehoshua 1938 births 2019 deaths Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Historians of the Middle East Israeli historians Jewish historians Israeli Jews