Amirav, Moshe

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AMIRAV, MOSHE

Israeli politician. Moshe Amirav was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, New York University, and the London School of Economics, where he earned a doctorate in political geography. From 1981 to 1986 he served as director general of the Israel Highway Safety Administration. A member of the Jerusalem City Council from 1989 to 1993, he served during that period as director of engineering, roads, and transport development for the city of Jerusalem. In 1987, while a member of the Likud Party, Amirav initiated a political dialogue with Palestinian intellectual Sari Nusseibeh that was criticized by both camps. In 2000, after the failed Camp David summit, Amirav was appointed adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, continuing to serve in that capacity until Barak left office in 2001. Amirav asserted that sovereignty over Jerusalem, particularly over the Temple Mount, had prevented the Israelis and Palestinians from reaching an agreement at Camp David. He proposed a plan (later described in his book The Palestinian Struggle over Jerusalem, 2002) to divide Jerusalem and to establish a "commonwealth of states" to govern the Temple Mount. In 2004 Amirav is a professor of political science and public policy at Haifa University and Beit Berl College.

SEE ALSO Camp David II Summit.