Israeli colonel to visit
IDF Colonel Shaul Arieli will visit Australia for the first time this November.
Colonel Shaul Arieli
One of Israel’s foremost experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Arieli is a leading academic and writer on the history and future demarcations of Israel’s borders, the Separation Barrier in the West Bank, and the history of negotiations between Israel and the PLO.
Arieli is an active board member of the Council for Peace and Security, an organisation that brings together senior former security, intelligence and military officials to advocate for moderate security solutions, using their collective expertise leading Israel’s security organisations for the past few decades.
Arieli will address the topic, “Status Quo in the West Bank: Israel’s Greatest Existential Threat” in Sydney at Shalom College on Sunday November 22nd, and in Melbourne at Caulfield Park Pavilion on Wednesday November 25th.
“Col. Arieli is a leading security expert – and his expertise is important to our understanding of the situation. We hold Israel’s security as paramount, and Col. Arieli will bring an important, nuanced perspective on how to ensure Israel remains secure in the long-term. We are proud to bring Col. Arieli to Australia to spark a discussion about the future of Israel and Palestine,” said NIF executive director Liam Getreu.
Twenty-five years since Israelis and Palestinians began negotiating towards a final status agreement, and with Israel’s presence in the West Bank continuing, Arieli will present on the feasibility of the two-state solution, and where Israelis and Palestinians must make painful compromises to improve the situations of both peoples.
Arieli’s expertise on the matter is unquestionable. While serving in the IDF, he held several held several command positions in the paratroopers, and, as commander of the northern brigade of the Gaza Strip, oversaw the implementation of the Gaza-Jericho Agreement. He later served as Deputy Military Secretary to the MInister of Defence and Prime Minister, and as head of the Peace Administration under Israeli Prime Ministers Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu and Barak.
In 2002, Shaul Arieli joined with former Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin to found the Geneva Initiative, an organisation that promotes the two-state solution within Israel.
Arieli holds a Masters’ Degree from the Recanati School of Business Administration at Tel Aviv University, and is completing his PhD at the University of Haifa. He lectures at both the IDC in Herziliya and the Tel Aviv Academic College. He is also an author of a number of books about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
