Daniel Schueftan
Encyclopedia
Dan Schueftan is a senior Israeli academic and deputy director of the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa
, where he also serves as a senior lecturer in the School of Political Sciences. He has also taught at the Israel Defense Forces National Security College and the IDFs Command and Staff College.
Schueftan has served as an advisor to Israel's National Security Council
, and to former Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin
and Ariel Sharon
. He is also a senior fellow at the Shalem Center
in Jerusalem.
an and American
political leaders and senior officers. He is also the author of several books on contemporary Middle Eastern history.
Schueftan is credited with having advanced the concept of "unilateral disengagement" or "unilateral separation", as articulated in his 1999 book, "Disengagement: Israel and the Palestinian Entity" (in Hebrew, Korah Hahafrada: Yisrael Ve Harashut Hafalestinit). The book is cited as having formed the basis for the concept of Separation from the Palestinians.
In Schueftan's view, Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza
is only a first step in a wider historical process. He told The Jerusalem Report
in September 2005 that:
Articles
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, where he also serves as a senior lecturer in the School of Political Sciences. He has also taught at the Israel Defense Forces National Security College and the IDFs Command and Staff College.
Schueftan has served as an advisor to Israel's National Security Council
Israeli National Security Council
The Israeli National Security Council is Israel's central body for coordination, integration, analysis and monitoring in the field of national security and is the staff forum on national security for the Israeli Prime Minister and Government. However, national security decisions typically made by...
, and to former Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
and Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
. He is also a senior fellow at the Shalem Center
Shalem Center
The Shalem Center is a Jerusalem research institute that supports academic work in the fields of philosophy, political theory, Jewish and Zionist history, Bible and Talmud, Middle East Studies, archaeology, economics, and strategic studies...
in Jerusalem.
Policy Advisor
For over 30 years, Schueftan has served as "a consultant to Israeli decision-makers and to the top echelon of Israel's foreign policy and defense establishments," also briefing EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an and American
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
political leaders and senior officers. He is also the author of several books on contemporary Middle Eastern history.
Schueftan is credited with having advanced the concept of "unilateral disengagement" or "unilateral separation", as articulated in his 1999 book, "Disengagement: Israel and the Palestinian Entity" (in Hebrew, Korah Hahafrada: Yisrael Ve Harashut Hafalestinit). The book is cited as having formed the basis for the concept of Separation from the Palestinians.
In Schueftan's view, Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...
is only a first step in a wider historical process. He told The Jerusalem Report
The Jerusalem Report
The Jerusalem Report is a biweekly print and online newsmagazine that covers political and social issues in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world...
in September 2005 that:
Selected Quotes
- "My views are extremely unpleasant and politically incorrect. But I am right."
- "Even by IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i standards, I’m arrogant, but I have such good reason to be that any kind of modesty on my part would simply be false modesty." - "Because of the failure of OsloOslo AccordsThe Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...
and the violence of the last three years, Israelis have learned a lesson in the only way Israelis learn lessons. You need to kill a few hundred Jews. Unfortunately, unless you do this, Jews are slow to learn." - "The Israeli public wants to be completely cut off from the Palestinians, and as a result nobody can be prime minister without going in this direction. It’s not even an option if they want to stay in power."
- “The Arabs are the greatest failure in the history of the human race; there is nothing under the sun more screwed up than the Palestinians.”
- “There is no group of peoples that has failed so conspicuously in the goals it set for itself like the Arabs. They failed at every big thing they tried to do. The Arab world is a profound failure, and anyone who doesn’t say this has given in to abhorrent political correctness.”
Published works
Books- "Disengagement: Israel and the Palestinian Entity" (Tel-Aviv: Zmora Bitan, 1999) (Hebrew)
- "Attrition: Egypt's Post War Political Strategy 1967-1970" (Tel-Aviv: Ma'arakhot/Misrad Ha-Bitahon, 1989) (Hebrew)
- "A Jordanian Option - Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians" (Tel-Aviv: Ha-Kibuts Ha-Meuhad, 1986) (Hebrew)
Articles
- "Voice of Palestine: The New Ideology of Israeli Arabs" Azure (Winter 2003)
- "High Fences Make Good Neighbors - Israel's Integration in 'The Emerging Mediterranean Culture'" in The Emergence of a New Mediterranean Culture: Maghreb-Mashriq-Israel, ed.Wolfgang Freund (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Pub Inc., 2000), pp. 37–47
- "The Unique Nature of the War from the Arab Perspective" in The Yom Kippur War - A Reappraisal, eds. Chaim Opaz and Yaacov Bar-Siman-TovYaacov Bar-Siman-TovYaacov Bar-Siman-Tov is a prominent international relations and conflict resolution scholar. He is the Giancarlo Elia Valori Professor of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he holds the "Chair for the Study of Peace and Regional Cooperation"...
(Jerusalem: The Leonard Davis Institute, 1999), pp. 123–139 (Hebrew) - "Jordan's 'Israeli Option'" in Jordan in the Middle East 1948-1988 - The Making of a Pivotal State, eds. Joseph Nevo and Ilan Pappe (London: Frank Cass & Co, 1994), pp. 254–282