Ido Zelkovitz
Ido Zelkovitz (born 11 July 1979) is an Israeli historian and researcher of the modern Middle East. His research focuses on cross-disciplinary analysis of the Palestinian History and Politics, the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Israel's geopolitical situation in the Middle East and the role of Higher Education and Students in Middle East politics. Early life and education. Zelkovitz was born in Haifa. In his youth he played basketball for Hapoel Haifa B.C. He received his in 2011 from The University of Haifa. His doctoral thesis focused on the role of higher education and the shaping of Palestinian  national identity and was written under the supervision of Mahmoud Yazbak. Career. In 2012 he was a post-doctoral research fellow at The Center of Methods in Social Sciences and the Institute of Sociology at the University of Göttingen Germany, after he won the prestigious Erasmus Mundus Post-doctorate fellowship from the European Union. The grant was used to conduct research on the role of higher education and social networking in a context of politics of survival among the Palestinian community in Kuwait. In 2014 Zelkovitz was the Schusterman Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University  of Minnesota. In 2016 he was appointed as a Senior Lecturer and as the Head of the Middle Eastern Studies Program at the Max Stern Yezreel Valley College. Other academic roles. Zelkovitz is a Research Fellow at the Ezri Center for Iran and the Persian Gulf Studies at The University of Haifa. He lectures at the University of Haifa and Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. He is also a Policy Fellow in Mitvim - The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, where he writes policy papers mainly aimed for Diplomats and Decision Makers. Books. In his first book, published in Hebrew, Zelkovitz argues  that fatah is not a secular political movement, but rather a traditional national liberation movement with religious background. Zelkovitz relates to the importance of Islam in the movement's political discourse and its cultural world. In his second book, Zelkovitz explores the Palestinian Student Movement from an historical and sociological perspective. This book demonstrates how Palestinian national identity has been built in the absence of national institutions, whilst emphasizing the role of higher education as an agent of social change, capable of crystallizing patterns of national identity. The book, was the first one that focuses on the political and social  activities of Palestinian students in two arenas—the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian diaspora in the years 1952-2000. The book investigates the shared goal of the several movements in securing independence and the building a sovereign Palestinian state, comparing their development, social impact and the differing challenges each movement faced. Publicistic writing and activity. Zelkovitz writes publicistic and analyst columns and he is a commentator in the global media. He frequently appears as an analyst on Israeli TV news channels on issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Zelkovitz is writing extensively and giving comments on  the Palestinian Political system, with an emphasis on the complex relationship between Fatah and Hamas. Zelkovitz columns were translated into Arabic, published and cited in Leading Arabic, Palestinian, and Lebanese Media. Zelkoivtz writing was quoted by political officials in the Palestinian political system such as Izzat al-Rishq from Hamas.