Yehoshafat Harkabi

Yehoshafat Harkabi was born in 1921 in Haifa

Harkabi was born in Haifa to Haya and Judge Zedekiah Harkabi. He attended the Hebrew Reali School and then studied philosophy and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University. He learned Arabic and Arab culture because he believed the Yishuv should integrate into the region.

In 1939 he left his studies to join the Haganah at kibbutz Hanita, and in 1943 he joined the British Army in World War II. During the War of Independence he commanded a company in the Etzioni Brigade, met King Abdullah I four times, and lost his younger brother Meir. He later took part in the armistice talks in Rhodes.

He became deputy head of Military Intelligence in 1953 and its head in 1955. He was promoted to major general in 1958. In 1959 he was forced to resign after the Night of the Ducks affair.

He studied public policy at Harvard and completed a doctorate at the Hebrew University in 1967. From 1969 he taught there and later held the Hexter chair. He advised Defense Minister Shimon Peres and later served as intelligence adviser to prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin.

Over the years he moved from warning about the PLO to supporting negotiations with it. He received the Israel Prize for political science. He died in 1994 and was buried on Mount Herzl.