Galia Golan

Galia Golan "was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, received her B.A. from Brandeis University, a diplome from the Sorbonne, and Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She emigrated to Israel in 1966 and has been on the faculty of the Hebrew University since 1967.

"Professor Golan is the Jay and Leoni Darwin Professor of Russian and East European Studies and the Chairperson of the Lafer Center for Women's Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the former Chairperson of the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University and the founder of the Herezeg Program on Sex Differences in Society (Israel's first program in gender studies).

"Galia Golan has been active in Peace Now since its founding in 1978. For many years a leader and spokesperson for the movement, she is a dedicated peace activist and Zionist, who believes that Israel can and must reach a just and lasting peace with its Arab neighbors, including the Palestinians.

"The recipient of the Gleitsman Foundation Activist Award in 1999 and the New Israel Fund's 1995 award for Women in Leadership, she has served as adviser to the Israel Defense Forces on the status of women and as a consultant to the Israel Foreign Ministry (on Soviet and post-Soviet affairs). Professor Golan is also one of the founders and a member of the Board of Directors of the Jerusalem Link -- An Israeli-Palestinian Women's Joint Venture for Peace. She was an International Fellow at the Brandeis Institute for Ethics, Justice and Public Life as well as a consultant for an International Study of Peace Organizations of the Aspen Institute. A frequent radio and television commentator, Professor Golan was a member of the National Council on the Status of Women in Israel and a founding member of the Jerusalem Municipality Council on the Status of Women, as well as a founding member of the Israel Women's Network. Former chair of the National Council of Meretz, Professor Golan is a member of the executive of Meretz.

"Professor Golan is the author of eight books on Soviet foreign policy and on Eastern Europe, including a book on the Soviet Union and the PLO and a book on Gorbachev's attitude toward terrorism. Her latest books recently appeared with Cambridge University Press on Soviet Policies in the Middle East from World War Two to Gorbachev and with the Royal Institute of International Affairs on Moscow and the Middle East and Russia and Iran. In addition, she has published a number of articles on women and politics in Israel and on the Middle East peace process.

"Professor Golan has been a visiting professor at a number of American universities, including the University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, UC-Irvine, Wellesley College, and Cornell University as well as at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, the Rand Corporation, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Aspen Institute. She has been a Ford Foundation Fellow and a MacArthur Foundation Fellow."

• Editorial Board, Palestine-Israel Journal
• Director, Israeli/Palestinian Center for Research and Information
• Director, Bat Shalom