Yossi (Joseph) Alpher () is an Israeli columnist and writer on Israel-related

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 ...

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 Ghassan Khatib (; born 1954) is a Palestinian politician. He was born in Nablus, in the West Bank, and is a member of the Palestinian People's Party. Khatib is married and has three children. He was also a member of the Madrid Peace Delegation i ...

, a former vice president of

Bir Zeit University Birzeit University () is a public university in the West Bank, Palestine, registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs as a charitable organization. It is accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and located in the outskirts o ...

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

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

.(2018)
The Mossad: Imperfect Spies
''

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

Biography

Alpher graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1964 before serving in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

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) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

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

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' (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 civil rights group and 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 wi ...

'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 an ...

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

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...

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 left-wing 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 organiza ...

''. Yossi Alpher, ex-Mossad officer and Israeli analyst, appeared in Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2009 film Brüno. In the film, Brüno attempts to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Alpher and Palestinian politician Ghassan Khatib were interviewed, unaware it was satire. Bruno asked absurd questions (e.g. confusing “Hamas” with “hummus”), leading to awkward and hilarious moments.

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