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Dr. Itamar Radai, Senior Lecturer

Hebrew
Itamar Radai
Contact Info

The Open University of Israel Department of History, Philosophy and Judaic Studies 1 University Road P.O.B. 808 Ra’anana 4353701, Israel
Office:972-9-7781384 Email:itamarr@openu.ac.il

Additional Information

Academia

Areas of Interest
  • The Israeli-Arab conflict
  • The Yishuv and the state of Israel
  • The Palestinians in the 20th century

Dr. Itamar Radai is a Senior Lecturer of Israel Studies. Dr. Radai engages in the historical study of the Israeli-Arab conflict. His research focus is mainly on the British Mandate period and on 1948, including social and political history of the 'Yishuv' (the Jewish community in Palestine), the state of Israel, and the Palestinian Arabs.

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2010
PhD, Department of History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2002
MA, Department of History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
1999
BA, Departments of History and Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2020
Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Philosophy and Judaic Studies, The Open University of Israel
2018 - 2019
Research Fellow, Taub Center for Israel Studies, NYU
2014 - 2018
Research Fellow, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University
2011 - 2012
Post Doctoral Fellow, the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2010 - 2011
Post Doctoral Fellow, Taub Center for Israel Studies, New York University (NYU)
2016
Yad Yizhak Ben-Zvi  Award for Studies on Jerusalem, on the book  A Tale of Two Cities: The Palestinians in Jerusalem and Jaffa, 1947-1948 (Hebrew)
2008
Grunstein Prize for studies on the Land of Israel, Faculty of Humanities, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2007
Carmon Prize for Middle Eastern Studies, Leonard Davis Institute, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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1. Palestinians in Jerusalem and Jaffa, 1948: A Tale of Two Cities. London and New York: Routledge, 2016.

2. A Tale of Two Cities: The Palestinians in Jerusalem and Jaffa, 1947-1948. Tel Aviv: Dayan Center for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, and the Weizmann Institute for the Study of Zionism and Israel, Tel Aviv University, 2015 (Hebrew).

3. The Third Battalion: The 'Galilee Battalion' of the Yiftach Palmach Brigade in the Israeli War of Independence. Tel Aviv: Yehuda Dekel Publishers and the Council for Heritage Sites in Israel, 2014 (Hebrew).

Jerusalem: Studies in the Struggle for Jerusalem at the War for Independence, ‘Aley Zait Vacherev Series, vol. 13. Jerusalem: Carmel, 2013 (Hebrew, edited together with Nir Mann).

1. “Images and Perceptions of Jews from Islamic Countries among European Jews in Palestine under the Mandate: The Case of Hannah Helena Thon”, Iyunim: Multidisciplinary Studies in Israeli and Modern Jewish Society (formerly: Iyunim Bitkumat Israel), vol. 32, 2019, 216-244 (Hebrew).

2. “History and Historiography: Israeli historical research on the 1948 War”, Hamizrach Hechadash vol. 59, 2019, 119-141 (Hebrew).

3. “The Rise and Fall of the Palestinian Arab Middle Class under the Mandate, 1920-1939”, Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 51, no. 3, July 2016, 487–506.

4. “Bourgeois Arab Society in Jerusalem under British Colonial Rule”, Iyunim Bitkumat Israel, vol. 25, 2015, 467-487 (Hebrew).

5. “Jaffa, 1948: the fall of a City”, Journal of Israeli History, vol. 30, no. 1, March 2011, 23-43.

6. “The Collapse of the Palestinian-Arab Middle Class in 1948: the Case of Qatamon”, Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 43, no. 6, November 2007, 961-982.

1. “The Palestinian Arab Middle Class”, in Michael Cohen (ed.), Re-Visiting the Palestine Triangle: The Centenary of the British Mandate, 1920-2020. London and New York: Routledge, 2020 102-118.

2. "Jaffa, 1948: Fighting, Institutions, and Society from the Partition Resolution (1947) to the Entry of the Arab Liberation Army (February 1948)”, in Alon Kadish (ed.), 1948 and After: War, the Military and Society – The Jerusalem School. Ben Shemen: Modan, 2016, 48-93 (Hebrew).

3. "From Sadat's visit to the Intifada: The Palestinians under Israel, 1977-1987", Yechiam Weitz, Zvi Zameret (eds.), Israel, the Fourth Decade. Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 2016, 359-376 (Hebrew).

4. "‘Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni: a Palestinian Commander in the 1948 War", in Nir Mann and Itamar Radai (eds.), Jerusalem: Studies in the Struggle for Jerusalem at the War for Independence, ‘Aley Zait Vacherev Series, vol. 13. Jerusalem: Carmel, 2013, 213-254 (Hebrew).

5. "Between the Hammer and the Anvil: The Collapse of the Palestinian Society in Jaffa in 1948, and the Fall of the City", in Mordechai Bar-On and Meir Chazan (eds.), Citizens at War: Studies on the Civilian Society during the Israeli War of Independence, Part II, Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi and Tel Aviv University, 2009, 120-149, (Hebrew).

6. "The Collapse and Exodus of the Palestinian Middle Class: Qatamon as a Case Study", Mordechai Bar-On and Meir Chazan (eds.), Citizens at War: Studies on the Civilian Society during the Israeli War of Independence, Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi and Tel Aviv University, 2006, 339-372 (Hebrew).

7. "Arab Irregular Forces in the Battle for Jerusalem, Late April – Late May 1948", Assnat Shiran (ed.), Jews and Arabs in a Protracted Struggle, Aley Zayit Vacherev, vol. 6, 2006, 55-98 (Hebrew).

Arab Irregular Forces and Community Organization in the Area of Jerusalem, December 1947 – May 1948, MA Thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2002. Supervisor: Prof. Alon Kadish (Hebrew).

A Tale of Two Cities: Palestinian Arab Society, Institutions, and Fighters in Jerusalem and Jaffa, 1947-1948, PhD Dissertation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2010. Supervisors: Prof. Alon Kadish, Prof. Moshe Maoz (Hebrew).

1. Sandy Sufian and Mark LeVine (eds.), Reapproaching Borders: New Perspectives on the Study of Israel-Palestine, Israel Studies Forum, vol. 25, no. 1, summer 2010.

2. Akram Musallam (ed.), Diaries of Khalil al-Sakakini, Vol.8, 1942 – 1952: The Exodus from Qatamon, Middle East Journal, vol. 65, no. 3, summer 2011.

3. Hillel Cohen, The Rise and Fall of Arab Jerusalem: Palestinian Politics and the City since 1967, Middle East Journal, vol. 66, no. 3, Summer 2012.

4. Avi Raz, The Bride and the Dowry: Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians in the Aftermath of the June 1967 war, Journal of Israeli History, 34:2, 2015, 227-230.

5. Menachem Klein, Lives in Common: Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Hebron", Middle East Journal, Summer 2016, 489-491.

6. Abigail Jacobson and Moshe Naor, Oriental Neighbors: Middle Eastern Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine”, Bustan: The Middle East Book Review, vol. 9, no. 1, 2018, 57-60.

7. Sherene Seikaly, Men of Capital: Scarcity and Economy  in Mandate Palestine”, Review of Middle East Studies vol. 52, no. 1, 2018, 230-233.

From Mandate to State: Planning the Israeli Institutes and Policies vis-à-vis the Arab Citizens