Elad Peled

Elad Peled was born in 1927 in Jerusalem

Elad Peled was born Elad Reisfeld in Jerusalem in 1927. As a child he moved with his family to Tel Aviv. At 10 he joined the HaMahanot HaOlim youth movement, and in high school he joined the Haganah.

In 1944 he joined the Palmach. During the War of Independence he commanded a platoon in the Yiftach Brigade, led the fighting for Safed and later became a deputy battalion commander. He helped set up combat intelligence in 1952, commanded the Golani Brigade from 1958 and led a division in the Six-Day War.

From 1965 he headed the National Security College, and in 1967 he was also put in charge of setting up Israeli television. He left the army in 1968 as a general. During his service he earned degrees in economics and philosophy at the Hebrew University.

After the army he was a deputy director general of the Israel Electric Corporation. In 1970 he became Director General of the Ministry of Education and Culture, where he proposed a five day work week for teachers. In 1976 he went to study for a doctorate in education at Columbia University.

Back in Israel he became deputy mayor of Jerusalem under Teddy Kollek, and in 1981 he left the post to lecture in education at Ben-Gurion University. He also advised institutions in Israel and abroad, including the World Bank. He was married to Zimra and had two children, and he died in 2021.