Between Shifting Sovereignties and Shifty Actors: Quo Vadis for the Middle East?, EAIS
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 2014-06-11

This lecture entitled "Between Shifting Sovereignties and Shifty Actors: Quo Vadis for the Middle East?" was given by Ambassador Efraim Halevy (Former Director of Mossad), it was the 1st Annual Lecture of the European Association of Israel Studies (EAIS) and it was held on 12 May 2014.

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Synopsis

Ambassador Halevy will examine key changes in the Middle East in the wake of the 'Arab Spring', focusing upon those 'ungoverned spaces' where national sovereignty is conspicuous by its absence in, for example, the Sinai peninsula, south Lebanon, much of Syria and Libya, as well as increasingly large tracts of Iraq.  

In addition, he will examine the security and political consequences flowing from this phenomenon and, in particular, the impact of upgraded military material into war zones primarily by Russia and its regional surrogates.  In the light of these developments, Ambassador Halevy will offer some tentative thoughts as to the future trajectory of unresolved internal conflicts in such places as Syria and Iraq amid the unabated and widespread bloodshed.  

He will also focus on the impact that the politics of personality is having on shaping the contours of power across the region through reference to the relationships between key individuals such as Grand Ayatollah Khomeini and President Rouhani, Field Marshal Sisi and the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and Prime Minister Netanyahu and Abu Mazen.  

Ambassador Halevy will conclude his remarks by examining the extent to which the presence of radical Sunni Jihadi groups in Lebanon and Syria, now fighting as a group, now pose a threat to Tehran's regional ambitions. Might, he will ask, Iran end up like the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan, withdrawing from a theatre of conflict having been beaten by a lesser power?

Ambassador Efraim Halevy

A man of vast experience of intelligence and diplomacy, Ambassador Efraim Halevy was born in London in 1934, emigrating to Israel with his family soon after the establishment of the state in 1948. 

 After studying law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, in 1961 Ambassador Halevy joined the Israeli intelligence Service, Mossad, eventually rising to become its head (1998-2002).  He was also Israel's Ambassador to the EU (1996-1998) and the head of Israel's National Security Council (2002-2003).  

He was head of the Shasha Centre for Strategic Studies at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem from 2003-2011 (and where he is now Emeritus Head), and was Chairman of the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Centre from 2005-2012.  

Among his many accomplishments, Ambassador Halevy is widely recognised for his key role in bringing about the peace treaty with Jordan in 1994 and ensuring, in often trying times, the ongoing stability of diplomatic ties between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom.