Yair Hirschfeld Retired Lecturer, Department of Middle Eastern History, University of Haifa Date of Birth: 01.06.1944 Country: Israel

1. Early Life and Education
2. Academic Career
3. Head of the Department of Middle Eastern History
4. International Research and Fellowships
5. Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations

Early Life and Education

Yair Hirschfeld was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1949. He moved to Vienna, Austria with his family in 1967 and grew up there. Hirschfeld was an active member of the Ha-Shomer Ha-Zair youth movement and even headed the Vienna branch from 1964 to 1967. He immigrated to Israel in 1967 and studied for his BA in Middle Eastern History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1967 to 1970, during which time he worked as a teaching assistant in the department and a research assistant to professors Gershon Salomon and Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt.

In 1971, Hirschfeld began his doctoral studies in Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University, submitting his dissertation, "Iranian-German Relations, 1921-1941," under the supervision of Professor Uriel Dann, in 1976 (or 1977). His dissertation was published in book form in 1980.

Academic Career

From 1973 onwards, Hirschfeld taught in the General History Department of Tel Aviv University, as well as at the Hebrew University in Eilat and at the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) in Arad. In 1975, he served as head of the Iranian Desk at the Reuven Shiloah Institute, Tel Aviv University (now part of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies), and from 1976 to 1977, he edited the institute's journal, "The Middle East in the Modern World." In July 1977, he wrote an article predicting the possible collapse of the Shah in Iran. He was awarded the Landau Prize in 1977.

Head of the Department of Middle Eastern History

Hirschfeld served as a lecturer at Tel Aviv University until 1981. From 1981 to 1986, he worked as head of the Socio-Economic Department of the Jewish-Arab Center at the University of Haifa. In 1982, he was appointed as a senior lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern History. From 1984 to 1986, he served as head of the department. He was a member of the University Senate of the University of Haifa from 1984 to 1987. Hirschfeld served on a number of academic committees and in various positions, including as a senior lecturer, at the University of Haifa until 2012.

International Research and Fellowships

In 1996, Hirschfeld was a visiting fellow at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. In 2011, he was a visiting research fellow in Middle Eastern studies at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. That same year, he won the prestigious Hinckley Fellowship at the University of Utah. From 2005 to 2014, he was a fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, Houston, Texas.

Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations

According to Benny Morris, Hanan Ashrawi and Hirschfeld began cultivating channels of communication with PLO's Faisal Husseini in 1989. Hirschfeld, at Ashrawi's suggestion, then sought out the PLO's Finance Minister, Abu Alaa (Ahmed Qurei). Through the Norwegians, including Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Jan Egeland and Rød Langsetern of the Norwegian Institute of Applied Social Sciences, Hirschfeld first met with Abu Alaa in London on December 4, 1992.

On January 19, 1993, the Israeli Knesset repealed the law prohibiting contacts between Israel and the PLO. The following day, Hirschfeld met Abu Alaa for the second time, outside Oslo and accompanied by Israeli historian Ron Pundak. With the blessing of Peres' deputy, Yossi Beilin, the three met clandestinely four more times. After the last meeting in May, the agreement was brought through official channels and became the "Declaration of Principles" (DOP).

The initial draft DOP included three essential terms: "Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the transfer of gradual economic authority to the Palestinians there...and...international economic aid to the nascent Palestinian entity in Gaza." It also included the "Gaza First" principle, whereby all the specified Israeli concessions would be implemented in Gaza prior to any final settlement. By their final meeting, it included elections, interim autonomy, and a transfer of authority to the Palestinians pending a gradual Israeli withdrawal. "Gaza First" also came to include some areas of the West Bank around Jericho.

Following further indirect negotiations between Israel and the PLO leadership in Tunis through Egyptian channels, facilitated by the Norwegians, the discussions begun between Hirschfeld and Alaa culminated with the start of the Oslo peace process, with Peres flying to Oslo on August 20, 1993, still secret from the public, and initialing the DOP.