A New Framework for Thinking About the Middle East

Sponsored by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies and co-sponsored by the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, Center for Middle East Development, and the UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

The political history of the Middle East faces a process of continuity and change. Identities and borders remain as the foremost issues. The new framework for thinking about the region should include the role of globalization, a shifting of terminologies, and an understanding of the clash of ideologies.

Haim Koren (Klein) served as Israel’s Ambassador to the Republic of Egypt between 2014 and 2016. He previously served as Ambassador to South Sudan and as the Director of the Middle East Division in the Center of Political Research in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his tenure with the Ministry, his positions included serving as Director of the Political Planning Division and as Deputy Spokesman of the Press Division. He has also served in various other diplomatic capacities in Chicago, USA; Alexandria, Egypt; and Kathmandu, Nepal.

Ambassador Koren earned his Ph.D. from the University of Bergen in Norway. He is an expert in the Arab World, including the Arabic language, media, and extremism. Since 2011, he has been a member of Advisory Board of IFIMES (The Slovenian Institute of Middle East and Balkan Studies) and from 2016 a member of the Board of the Ezri Center for Research of Iran and the Persian Gulf at Haifa University.

Between 1992-1994 Amb. Koren was a Member of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. From 2008 to 2011, he as Instructor at the National Defense College of Israel. He has given lectures and seminars on Arabism and Islam, the Ideology of Radical Islam, the Global Dimension of the Foreign Policy in Israel and New Framework for Thinking on the Middle East.

Koren has published dozens of articles in his area of expertise. His forthcoming piece (Dayan Center-Tel Aviv University, 2017) is on “Quo Vadis Sudan? Between Horn of Africa and the ”Arab Shaking” Fabric.