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Ron Pundak

Ron Pundak was an Israeli historian and journalist who helped start the Oslo peace process and directed the Peres Center for Peace.

1955 to 2014Starting the Oslo peace processLeading the Peres Center for PeaceDrafting the Geneva Initiative

Born: 14 May 1955, Tel Aviv
Died: 11 April 2014, Tel Aviv
Occupation: journalist, chief executive officer, historian, political scientist
Education: University of London

Ron Pundak was born in 1955 in Tel Aviv

Ron Pundak was born in Tel Aviv in 1955 to parents who had immigrated from Denmark. His father was the journalist Herbert Pundik. His older brother Uri was killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

He joined the IDF in 1973 and served as an intelligence officer, later holding roles in the Israeli intelligence community. In 1991 he earned a PhD in Middle Eastern political history from the University of London. In 1994 he published a book on Jordanian history.

He worked as a journalist at Haaretz and, with Yair Hirschfeld, founded the Economic Cooperation Foundation. Through it they built ties with Palestinian leaders that led to the secret Oslo channel. He was on the Israeli team that negotiated the Declaration of Principles signed in 1993.

From 2001 he directed the Peres Center for Peace. He took part in Track Two dialogues with Palestinians and was among the drafters of the Geneva Initiative in 2003. He also co-chaired the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum and sat on the board of the Aix Group.

He died of cancer on 11 April 2014. His daughter is peace activist May Pundak.