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ews Save the Date Ben-Gurion Day, December 3, 2008

I EU Commissioner Speaks about Intercultural Dialogue

I Two-Year Study Suggests that Mediterranean Diet Most Effective for Health Benefits

I Prof. Alon Tal ReceivesLifetime Achievement Award

I Deichmann PlazaWins Design Award

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The Ran Naor Center for Human Factors in Traffic Safety was recently established through a collaboration of the University and the voluntary citizens’ association Or Yarok (“Green Light” in Hebrew). Or Yarok dedicates itself to reducing the number of road fatalities and accidents and also changing Israeli culture of driving.

Or Yarok’s Chairman Avi Naor founded the organization in the name of his son Ran Naor, who was killed in a traffic accident.

Based on the work ofProf. David Shinar of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, and incumbent of the George Shrut Chair in Human Performance Management, the Center is recognized as a leader in the field. Shinar was recently appointed to serve as Chief Scientist of the National Road Safety Authority. The research team is the largest in Israel and has been internationally ranked as one of the leading groups in this area.

The Human Factors Engineering group has worked with the American automotive giant General Motors (GM) for close to 10 years, studying driver interaction with vehicle systems to improve driver safety. GM recently donated a 2008 luxury Cadillac sedan which will be outfitted with a driving simulator and eye-tracking system to be used in the newly-expanded research laboratories. It took considerable ingenuity to remove the old simulator and move the new car into the

basement of the building.

The combined facilities enable researchers to monitor driving performance and physiological responses to changes in driver status – such as those resulting from stress, fatigue, or alcohol or drug ingestion – and to changes in the driving demands due to changes in the road geometry, visibility and traffic demands.

The Ran Naor Center was established to provide a better understanding of the behavior of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians as well as vehicle-roadway interaction, in order to develop, test and commercialize innovative systems and approaches for preventing improper or dangerous road user behavior.

According to Director Dr. Tal Oron-Gilad, the Center will collaborate with researchers from the University and other academic institutions in Israel and worldwide to explore all aspects of how human factors impact road safety, driver behavior and road users’ safety.

I Ran Naor Center for Human Factorsin Traffic Safety Created

Dr. Adi Rosen (center) helps mechanics maneuver the new Cadillac down the hallway on its way into the laboratory


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Prof. Amir Sagi of the Department of Life Sciences and the National Institute for

I New Dean for the Faculty of Natural Sciences

Biotechnology in the Negev was recently elected Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. He replaces Prof. Avraham Parola, who completed two three-year terms.

His research interests include comparative and applied endocrinology, crustacean biology and desert aquaculture.

After completing a Ph.D. at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Fulbright

scholarship at the University of Connecticut, Sagi joined the Department of Life Sciences in 1992. He was the incumbent of the Murray and Judith Shusterman Career Development Chair in Microbiology, designed to promote young faculty, before receiving his professorship. He has been a member of the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev since its inception.

Since 2001, he has served

as a Vice-President of the International Society of Invertebrate Reproduction and Development. From 2004-2008, he established and headed the program in Marine Biology and Biotechnology at BGU‘s Eilat campus. In 1997 and 2007, he won the Annual Awards for Excellence in Teaching from the Student Association and the Faculty of Natural Sciences.Prof. Amir Sagi

A study on adolescent depression following terror attacks found that adolescents with sufficient social support are more protected against depression. The joint research was conducted by Prof. Golan Shahar of the Department of Psychology and Prof. Christopher Henrich of Georgia State University and was published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. This is the first publication of research on rocket attacks funded by the Israel-U.S. Bi-national Science Foundation (BSF).

The study followed middle school students in the Israeli city of Sderot who have experienced seven years

I Joint Study Sheds Light on Impact of Terrorism on Adolescent Depression

of ongoing terror attacks by Qassam rockets. Shahar and Henrich have been collaborating for over eight years studying the role of stress, risk and resilience in the development of children and adolescents.

Twenty-nine participants were evaluated before and after a five-month period from May to September 2007, when daily rocket attacks from the Gaza strip increased significantly. Both evaluations measured adolescent self-reported depression and social support from family, friends and school in the context of the ongoing rocket attacks. According to Shahar, “This provided an exceptional and unique opportunity to examine risk and resilience processes

in such a heavily burdened population.”

The findings indicate that a strong support system for adolescents could cushion the effects of depression caused by prolonged exposure to rocket attacks. According to the authors, “These findings

highlight the potential importance of community mental health efforts as protective resources in times of traumatic stress. More research on the subject is necessary to determine the extent to which support helps students cope with the difficulties.”

Prof. Golan Shahar

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Prof. Gabi Ben-Dor was recently elected Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences. He replacesProf. Yigal Ronen, who served as Dean for five years.

An internationally-recognized expert in shock wave studies, he was named incumbent of the Dr. Morton and Toby Mower Chair in Shock Wave Studies in 2001. He has received numerous honors, including the Prof. Meir Hanin Research Award; the University of Rome Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Research of Gas Dynamics

and its application; and BGU’s Rector’s Award as Outstanding Researcher of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences in 2006. He was recently appointed a Centenary Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India for the 2008-09 academic year.

Ben-Dor joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering of BGU in 1979. He has held a number of administrative positions at the University, including Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering; Dean of the Faculty of Engineering

I New Dean for the Faculty of Engineering Sciences

Sciences; and Director of the former Institutes for Applied Research. Since 2006, he has been Chair of the Protective Technologies Research and Development Center, which he established.

Ben-Dor is a member of a number of professional organizations, including serving as a Fellow of the Society of Shock Wave Research of India. He has published extensively, including three monographs, one handbook, about 250 papers in scientific journals and 70 chapters in collective

volumes. He has also presented about 400 papers at scientific conferences and symposia.

Prof. Gabi Ben-Dor

A team of researchers from BGU, Haifa University and Achva Academic College have been awarded a highly competitive grant by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) to establish a Center of Excellence for the study of cognitive and brain mechanisms involved in arithmetic.

Headed by member of BGU’s Department of Psychology Prof. Avishai Henik, the newly-created Center for the Neurocognitive Basis of Numerical Cognition (CNBNC) aims to study elementary operations of numerical processing (e.g., mental operations involved

I ISF Creates New Center of Excellence at BGU

in enumeration and its association with the digital symbolic system), their neural underpinning, developmental trajectories and deficiencies.

The group includesProf. Joseph Tzelgov from the Department of Psychology and Achva Academic College; Dr. Dana Ganor-Stern from Achva Academic College; Dr. Andrea Berger from the Department of Psychology and Dr. Orly Rubinsten from Haifa University. Together they bring complementary expertise to the overall study of cognitive neuroscience.

“Mathematical ability is of foremost importance in life

and a deficiency in this ability can be a major impediment,” explains Henik. “It seems that acquiring a solid sense of numbers and being able to mentally manipulate numbers are at the heart of this ability.”

He outlined the group’s goals, including the understanding of the building blocks of numerical cognition, the neural tissue involved, the temporal aspects of such involvement and deficiencies in numerical cognition. The group “expects to unravel elementary processes of numerical cognition and their biological instantiations.” This, he continues, “will enhance psychological theory and

augment our understanding of the mechanisms of numerical cognition,” resulting in an understanding of the underlying causes of deficiencies such as developmental dyscalculia. Their goal, he says, is to develop efficient rehabilitation technologies and advance the diagnosis of congenital deficiencies.”

The ISF initiated the Center for Excellence program to promote research activity at an inter-university level, and develop novel research areas at Israeli universities. Only three such centers will be established in Israel during this academic year.



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The European Union’s Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth Ján Figel visited the Marcus Family Campus this summer, hosted by the University’s

I EU Commissioner Speaks aboutIntercultural Dialogue

Centre for the Study of European Politics and Society and the Department of Politics and Government. Figel presented a lecture on the topic of “Israel, Europe and

Intercultural Dialogue” and met with students and researchers from BGU. In his lecture, Figel emphasized the importance of a “global knowledge society” that includes Israel and its universities, and that this “society is part of an inter-cultural dialogue that is building bridges and thus enlarging our knowledge.” He detailed the ongoing European commitment to what has become known as the “Bologna process” to regulate and encourage interaction between the different institutions of higher education for the greater good of all.

“Although, it is too early to measure their direct impact on higher education, reports show that all countries have changed the ways in which their universities are operating, towards a more open,

attractive and competitive system, all within one whole,” he explained, noting that BGU’s involvement with the Erasmus Mundus, Tempus and Jean Monnet programs, were examples of successful implementation of the Bologna process. Figel recognized the efforts Israel and its universities are undertaking to be a leading member of the education society and noted the strengths the higher education system in Israel has, such as its high position in the Shanghai University ranking, its public spending on education as a percentage of GDP and the benefits that those investments are showing. He did however note that “there are still many challenges that Israeli higher education will have to deal with, such as its high rate of illiteracy among children and the brain drain.”

The University has launched a comprehensive project to improve accessibility on the Marcus Family Campus for visitors with special needs.

According to University Vice-President and Director-General David Bareket, BGU will invest more than $300,000 in a number of special projects that will significantly broaden

I University to Invest in Accessibilitythe range of services available.

Projects include providing facilities for the hearing impaired in six auditoriums and three classrooms; improvement of accessibility for the disabled in 56 elevators; installation of sliding doors and wheelchair lifts, primarily in the Zalman Aranne Central Library;

installation of ramps and railings in a number of locations, including the installation of a chairlift in the swimming pool of the University Sports Center, and more.

Bareket explained that this investment in infrastructure reflects the University’s overall commitment to society

and community. “In the framework of our efforts to create greater accessibility for the entire University community, we decided on a large investment to help the disabled population. I believe that what we will accomplish in the end will provide a satisfying solution for the whole community” he said.

Dr. Ján Figel (right) with University President Prof. Rivka Carmi


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A two-year study led by researchers from the Faculty of Health Sciences reveals that low-carbohydrate and Mediterranean diets may be safer and more effective in achieving weight loss than the standard, medically prescribed low-fat diet, according to a new study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

The study was conducted by the University and the Nuclear Research Center in Dimona, Israel, in collaboration with Harvard University, the University of Leipzig in Germany and the University of Western Ontario in Canada. Led by Dr. Iris Shai of the Department of Epidemiology, and a researcher at theS. Daniel Abraham International Center for Health and Nutrition, the study was conceived with Dr. Meir J. Stampfer from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Channing Laboratory in Boston, Massachusetts.

In the study, 322 moderately

I Two-Year Study Suggests that MediterraneanDiet Most Effective for Health Benefits

obese people were intensively monitored and were randomly assigned one of three diets: a low-fat, calorie-restricted diet; a Mediterranean calorie-restricted diet with the highest level of dietary fiber and monounsaturated/saturated fat; or a diet with the least amount of carbohydrates, highest fat, protein and dietary cholesterol. The low-carb dieters had no caloric intake restrictions.

Although participants actually decreased their total daily calories a similar amount, net weight loss from the low-fat diet after one year was only 6.5 lbs. (2.9 kg) compared to 10 lbs. (4.4 kg) on the Mediterranean diet, and 10.3 lbs. (4.7 kg) on the low-carbohydrate diet. “These weight reduction rates are comparable to results from physician-prescribed weight loss medications,” explains Shai.

In addition to the findings, this two-year study is also important because of the relatively large number of

participants and the low drop-out rate – 95 percent were in the study after one year and 85 percent were still participating after the second.

The trial conducted at the Nuclear Research Center in Israel involved unparalleled and significant cooperation between staff, participants and their spouses. The cafeterias in the workplace went through a “health revolution,” integrating the workplace cafeteria managers with clinical support and a nutritional advisor, in order to provide healthy food dishes that would fit each one of the dietary arms, as labeled with specific colors every day. Along with careful workplace nutritional counseling, spouses of the trial participants were educated on how to keep the specific assigned diet strategy at home. The participants also completed electronic questionnaires, developed specifically for the study.

“Clearly, there is not one diet that is ideal for everyone,” Shai concludes. “We believe that

this study will open clinical medicine to considering low-carb and Mediterranean diets as safe effective alternatives for patients, based on personal preference and the medical goals set for such intervention. Furthermore, the improvement in levels of some biomarkers continued until the 24-month point, although maximum weight loss was achieved by 6 months. This suggests that healthy diet has beneficial effects beyond weight loss.”

Dr. Iris Shai

The BGU Review, a multidisciplinary journal dedicated to various aspects of Israel culture, is now available online.

Published in English, the Review is produced by the University’s Heksherim – The Research Institute for Jewish

I English-Language Journal Now On-Lineand Israeli Literature and Culture, with the support of the Axel Springer Stiftung Foundation of Germany.

The journal presents translations of seminal essays, stories and poems as well as research regarding various areas of Israeli culture.

The newest issue includes essays and overviews of the latest research in literature, architecture, cinema and history, as well as an original story.

The editors are Prof. Arnold J. Band, of UCLA; Profs. Nissim Calderon and Yigal Schwartz

of BGU’s Department of Hebrew Literature; andProf. Yoram Meital, Chairman of BGU’s Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy.

To read the BGU Review, visit the website at http://www.bgu.ac.il/bgureview



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Prof. Alon Tal of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Environmental Protection from Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. The

award, which was granted to 12 recipients, recognized the honorees for their work on behalf of safeguarding Israel’s environment and was granted as part of the country’s 60th anniversary

celebrations. University President Prof. Rivka Carmi praised the recognition, noting that Prof. Alon Tal is “both an exemplary academic and an environmental leader who transformed Israel’s environmental movement and its approach to ecological challenges.”

A member of the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Tal is the founder of the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (Adam, Teva v’Din) and of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. His primary research focus is in water management and policy, with an emphasis on joint Israeli-Palestinian environmental projects. He is currently finishing a new book titled, Water Wisdom – Cooperative and Sustainable Water Management in the Middle East, co-authored with Dr. Alfred Abed-Rabbo from Bethlehem University,

which looks at final status possibilities for resolving the water conflicts with the Palestinians.

He is among the BGU faculty members that represent Israel’s Foreign Ministry at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the organizer of the biannual international conference, Deserts, Drylands and Desertification, which takes place at the Blaustein Institutes. Born and raised in the United States, Tal holds a law degree from the Hebrew University and a doctorate from the Harvard School of Public Health. He received the Charles Bronfman Prize in 2006.

The Achievement Award ceremony took place in the presence of President Shimon Peres and Minister of Environmental Protection Gideon Ezra.

I Prof. Alon Tal Receives LifetimeAchievement Award

Prof. Alon Tal (right) with Minister Gideon Ezra

Dr. Ohad Medalia recently received the prestigious FEI European Microscopy Awards (FEI-EMA) for 2008 for his groundbreaking research on cryo-electron tomography of cells and his work on the “Molecular Architecture of Integrin-mediated Cell Adhesion by Cryo-Electron Tomography.” A member of the University’s National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev and the Department

I Dr. Ohad Medalia Recognized of Life Sciences, Medalia is an internationally-recognized leader in structural biology and electron tomography.

According to the European Microscopy Society, the awards are granted on the basis of “the quality and originality of scientific achievements in any field of microscopy, obtained during the five years preceding the application.”

Granted once every four years, the awards are made with the intention of supporting scientists at a stage of their career at which the award will have a maximal impact on their future career.

Medalia’s research uses advanced cryo-electron microscopy that allows retrieval of 3-D structural information from large polymorphic structures,

which allows cells to be arrested in various functional states. As such, cryo-electron tomography can be a useful tool in medical research and drug discovery processes.

Medalia received his Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and did his post-doctoral work at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Germany.

Photo: Oded A

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A small but lavishly decorated church, wine press and possibly, an overnight hostel were part of the archeological remains uncovered by students from the Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Working under the supervision of BGU’sDr. Haim Goldfus and Dr. Peter Fabian, the students spent four weeks learning about archeology first hand in the field.

The site, located in the northern area of the Lahav Forest, was most likely a monastic complex of the early Byzantine period that was built in the mid-sixth century C.E. and continued to function as such well into the eighth century C.E. (Umayyad-Abssid periods). “You can see where the looters uprooted the mosaics of the church and other building materials,” notes Goldfus, while pointing to

I A Hands-on Lesson in Archeology the missing decorated mosaic floor and to a ramp built from the church’s pillars. “They built the ramp so that they could move out the larger, heavy objects,” he explains.

While the main mosaics have been removed, a verse from the Septuagint version of the Book of Psalms chapter 18: “The snares of death took me by surprise, In my distress I called upon the Lord,” still decorates the main altar. “The artist clearly knew the psalm, but did his own loose translation,” explains Goldfus.

The complex includes the thus far unexcavated monastery itself where the monks lived and other buildings that

made up the way-station for travelling merchants along one of the principal roads leading from Jerusalem to the Negev

and Sinai desert. “The Negev is full of these little settlements that we hope to one day uncover.”

Dr. Iris Tabak of the Department of Education has been elected President of the International Society of the Learning Sciences for a three-year term. The Society is a professional association dedicated to the empirical investigation of learning as it exists in real-world settings.

The Society, whose members emanate from six continents, is interdisciplinary and

I Dr. Iris Tabak Elected President of International Society of the Learning Sciences

includes researchers from cognitive science, educational psychology, computer science, anthropology, sociology, information sciences, neurosciences, education, design studies, instructional design and other fields.

Tabak’s research focuses on how knowledge, skills and a sense of ownership develop in naturalistic settings through interactions between agents

and social, cognitive and material tools. She draws on cognitive and socio-cultural theory to design advanced technologies for learning. She teaches courses on qualitative research methods, cognition and science education, design of computer-based learning environments and classroom discourse.

Her academic distinctions include: NARST Outstanding

Dissertation Award, Educational Testing Service Pre-doctoral Research Fellowship, a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship at UCLA, the Rashi-Guastella Fellowship for the Advancement of Science Education and a Mandel Fellowship for Research in Education.

Student Shelly Laufer cleans up the mosaic floor in the church complex



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An Honorary Professorship at the Faculty of Engineering Sciences was presented to world-renowned physicistProf. Philip G. Rutberg, Director of the Institute of Problems of Electrophysics in the Russian Academy of Sciences. An outstanding scientist in the fields of electrophysics and low temperature plasma physics, Rutberg developed the scientific foundation for this important new field of research.

According to the University citation, Rutberg was

I Honorary Professorship at the Faculty of Engineering Sciences Granted to Prof. Philip G. Rutberg

recognized as a researcher, “who dedicates his time and energy to educating the future generation of scientists and engineers and to the promotion of science and technology worldwide.”

The moderator of the ceremony, Prof. Natan Kopeika of the Department of Electrical Engineering, hypothesized a biblical connection with Rutberg’s field of energy and plasma, pointing out that in some interpretations of the first verse in the Book of Genesis, “God created the world not of ‘nothingness’, but of ‘energy’.”

University Rector Prof. Jimmy Weinblatt revealed thatProf. Rutberg has “Zionist roots,” being related to pre-state leader Pinchas Rutenberg, remembered as the founder of Israel’s electric company. “How fitting that Prof. Rutberg, whose field is energy production, should be related to Rutenberg, who is responsible for all our electricity.”

Rutberg delivered a lecture on “Novel Methods of Renewable Energy Production Providing for Sustainable Development.” Prof. Philip G. Rutberg

Prof. Ze’ev Wiesman of the Department of Biotechnology Engineering has developed new varieties of the royal, crowned red fruits that taste better, are more vividly colorful inside and out, and can be efficiently grown in the Negev and other drylands.

Wiesman, head of the Phyto-Lipid Biotechnology Lab, and his team have improved the genetic makeup of pomegranates in an attempt to expand the market potential of this ancient fruit.

“One of the seven species mentioned in the Bible as native to the Holy Land, the

pomegranate has recently been transformed into a miracle fruit,” he explains. “It has been found to be extremely high in anti-oxidants and other healthy components that have expanded the fruit’s market potential.”

The first three newly released varieties are called Narda, Rotem and Nitzan. They have a reddish-purple skin and seeds. Growers across the Negev have started planting these fruit, which ripen earlier than the existing varieties, even further expanding the market potential – both as whole fruit and for bio-industrial purposes such as

extraction of their juice, oil and additional nutra-ceuticals.

“The more you know about the fruit, the better you can select the best variety and improve traits like color, taste, aroma, the amount of juice and oil and pharmaceutical properties,” Wiesman explains.

In 1998, a number of special pomegranates were brought from Central Asia byProf. Dov Pasternak. A long-term evaluation and sub-grouping yielded different varieties that were chosen for early ripening, color and taste and then bred to create new varieties. BG Negev

Technologies, the University’s technology transfer company, registered the best varieties for plant material rights (patents) and has signed contracts with a number of distributing companies in Israel and abroad.

The team used conventional breeding rather than genetic engineering. “Pomegranates are considered a health food and are especially popular among Europeans who avoid genetically engineered produce,” he says, “so we preferred conventional breeding.”

I New Pomegranate Varieties to Expand Markets and Health Potential for Ancient Fruit


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Dr. Anat Weisman of the Department of Hebrew Literature received two of the five awards presented by the Minister of Science, Culture and Sport for “Excellence in Published Books in the Year 5769.” The prize committee included leading academics from the world of literature and culture in Israel.

She was recognized separately for two different works that she edited: Mendele Moykher

I Dr. Anat Weisman Doubly Honored

Sforim B’ivrit (Mendele the Book Peddler in Hebrew), published by Xargol Books; and David Avidan – Kol Hashirim (Collected Poems), co-edited with Dr. David Winfeld of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and published by Hakibbutz HaMeuchad Publishing House.

The judges’ citation noted that “Weisman’s new interpretation of the classic work Mendele the Book Peddler in Hebrew,

of Jewish texts that are part of its historical base.

including her introduction and insightful annotated comments, are an essential addition to the oeuvre of classic texts that have been updated for the modern library.”

Weisman, the first incumbent of the Rosen Family Career Development Chair in Judaic Studies, focuses her research on the points of intersection and interaction between contemporary Hebrew literature and the rich cannon

Dr. Anat Weisman

President of the Japanese publishing giant Nikkan Kogyo Newspaper (The Business & Technology Daily News) Chino Toshitake visited the University in October as part of a three-day tour of Israel.

Accompanied by TJ Namaritani, Chairman of TJC and several IT companies and a director at the Japan Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Osaka, and Israeli-Japanese businessman Amir Raz, Toshitake came to learn more about the country and the potential for Japanese-Israeli industrial cooperation.

In addition to publishing one of Japan’s largest leading newspapers, the Nikkan Kogyo Company organizes professional conferences and trade events. Toshitake believes that one of the greatest drawbacks to business

partnerships between the two countries is a lack of information. “We have the resources and tools to spread the word about Israeli innovation and technological developments that are taking place in Israel, which will hopefully pave the road for future cooperation.

“Currently there are no publications about Israel in the Japanese media on a regular basis,” he said at a meeting with University PresidentProf. Rivka Carmi, expressing his interest to expand coverage of the Israel hi-tech industry and the technology-related-academy.

Hosted by Netta Cohen, CEO of BGN Technologies – the University’s technology transfer company, Toshitake met with researchers in fields that range from robotics to fiber optics, information and atom chip technologies.

I The Business of Doing Business

(L-R) Prof. Rivka Carmi, Chino Toshitake, TJ Namaritani and Netta Cohen



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Prof. Mark Gelber, Chairman of the University’s Conrad and Chinita Abrahams-Curiel Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics and Director of the Center for German Studies, didn’t expect to find himself at the center of an international controversy when he organized an academic study day at BGU in July focused on the works of the famous author from Prague.

The event, which brought together leading Kafka scholars from around the world, was intended to present new approaches to Kafka’s intriguing oeuvre, while

I Study Day Highlights Kafka’s Israel Connection highlighting some of his less well known Jewish and Israel connections. “He read Jewish and Zionist sources extensively and engaged in serious dialogues with Zionist and Jewish friends about them,” notes Gelber.

In July, a public dispute over the future of the Franz Kafka and Max Brod papers in Israel erupted, and Gelber was at the heart of the international debate. He was cited in newspapers from Israel and around the world. “I have taken an active stand that any Kafka papers remaining in Tel Aviv and the Max Brod archives should stay in Israel,”

says Gelber, explaining that Brod brought Kafka’s papers to Israel and the remains of his private archives may still be hidden in the apartment of his former secretary in Tel Aviv, some forty years after Brod’s death.

“Very few people know that Kafka published stories in Zionist newspapers and journals, like Prague’s Selbstwehr and Martin Buber’s Der Jude,” explains Gelber. “He learned Hebrew, which was a Zionist act at the time. He attended a Zionist Congress in Vienna in 1913 and made plans more than once to make aliya, that is, to move to

Palestine,” he continues.

While arguments continue over the fate of the archives, researchers such as Gelber hope that any remaining material will soon be available to scholars and students alike. “We do not know what material might be found in the Tel Aviv apartment, but there may be items that have the potential to broaden our understanding of Kafka, Brod and their Jewish and Zionist connections. It would be a huge loss if the material was to go to a private collector and not to the Jewish National Library or a public archive in Israel,” says Gelber.

Dr. Guy Ben-Porat, a member of the Department of Public Policy and Administration at the Guilford Glazer School of Business and Management, received the Ernst-Otto Czempiel Award of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) for his book, Global Liberalism, Local Populism: Peace and Conflict in Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland.

This award for the best book published within the past couple of years in the field of peace research was presented for the first time this year. The jury cited Ben-Porat’s book as “academically outstanding” and his approach as “extraordinarily innovative,” said Prof. Dr. Harald Müller,

I Dr. Guy Ben-Porat Receives Ernst-Otto Czempiel Award for Best Research

chairman of the jury and PRIF’s Executive Director.

Published in 2006 by Syracuse University Press, Ben-Porat’s comparative study analyzes the conflicts in both Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland within the context of globalization. Original optimism for peace in Israel collapsed with the renewal of violence, while in Northern Ireland, the process overcame such difficulties. He demonstrated the impact of globalization on regional conflicts and examined how local resistance by those who feel compromised become enemies of peace processes and fuel conflicts anew.

Ben-Porat is a senior lecturer

at BGU and a research fellow at the Van-Leer Institute in Jerusalem, Israel. His research focuses on globalization and governance, especially in conflict states. He also serves as the Director of the Rich Foundation Masters Degree Program in Public Policy and Administration. Currently, he is on sabbatical at the University of California at Davis.

The Ernst-Otto Czempiel Award was created to recognize the best book published by a young scientist – not older than 45 – who is working in the field of peace research.

The Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) was founded in 1970 by the government

of the state of Hesse to identify the causes of violent international and internal conflicts, carrying out research into the conditions necessary for peace, understood as a process of decreasing violence and increasing justice and spreading the concepts of peace.

Dr. Guy Ben-Porat


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Researchers from the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research have analyzed the freight movement at check points between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The study, lead by Dr. Yaakov Garbe from the Department of Man in the Desert, was funded by US-AID through the Economic Cooperation Foundation (ECF). With the building of the separation barrier between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Garb explains, it became clear that the “some very basic data relating to freight movements were missing.”

His study was unique in building a broad coalition of unlikely supporters, all

I Freight Needs Likely to be Greater than Anticipated interested in obtaining reliable information. These ranged from the Israel Ministry of Defense on one end, to the Mayor of Hebron, the Hebron Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Palestinian Shippers Council on the other. UN agencies and the IDF facilitated the demanding task of planning and conducting accurate surveys in a shifting and volatile field setting.

Researchers did the first ever full survey of the traffic between Israel and the southern West Bank in a typical 24-hour period, placing surveyors to count and photograph all commercial vehicles at each crossing, and then used techniques

they developed to collate and analyze this information. One of the key findings was that the numbers of actual trucks moving through the different crossings was significantly greater than the planned capacity of the centralized new terminal through which flows will be concentrated.

“The striking thing,” says Garb, “is that so much planning has gone into the construction of multi-million dollar terminals, but this was done without an empirical basis regarding the needed capacities. It took a nimble outside team, trusted by all sides, to deliver this information.”

The findings, which have

been presented to the Ministry of Defense, UN agencies and others, are helping to shift thinking, policies and planning for future terminals. They were incorporated in the recent World Bank report on Palestinian economic prospects to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, and in a report on Palestinian movement and access submitted by the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation to the Embassy of Japan in Israel, which noted that the survey “provided extremely important and previously unknown information regarding the total volume of freight traffic passing between the two entities.”

The Deichmann Plaza, designed by Chyutin Architects, was recently awarded Ot Haizuv 2009 (Design Project of the Year) in the category of Architecture, City and Landscape Planning. The recognition was granted by a non-profit group that includes the country’s leading

I Deichmann Plaza Wins Design Award

architects and planners, including representatives from the Ministry of Construction and Housing; the Association for City Planners in Israel; the Association of Interior Designers in Israel; the School of Architecture, WIZO, Haifa; College of Management Academic Studies

– Department of Interior Design; and the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion. The prize will be presented in May 2009. In addition to personally designing a number of noteworthy buildings on the Marcus Family

Campus, Bracha Chyutin supervises the University’s overall design master plan.

The Deichmann Plaza was dedicated in April 2008 in the presence of its benefactor and Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Governors, Dr. Heinz-Horst Deichmann of Germany. At

the ceremony, Deichmann described the Plaza as “a place of reconciliation, a place of enjoyment, open to the Daled neighborhood.”

Bordered by the Deichmann Building for Community Action, the Spitzer-Salant Building for the Department of Social Work, the Helen Diller Family Center and the Guilford Glazer School of Business and Management, the public space was designed, according to the architects’ statement, “to offer services and to constitute links connecting with the community on subjects related to art and social contexts.” The Plaza’s mixture of concrete and vegetation “defines the urban space around the buildings and connects them.”


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www.bgu.ac.il, Vol.3 No.2

An international symposium on advanced methods for viral detection organized by two BGU researchers was held this past summer in Dakar, Senegal. The week-long “ViralCheck” conference and technical workshop was the initiative of Dr. Leslie Lobel of the Department of Virology and Developmental Genetics at the Faculty of Health Sciences, and Prof. Robert S. Marks of the Department of Biotechnology Engineering and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev.

The idea behind the workshop, held at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, was to facilitate scientific exchanges between researchers who rarely have an opportunity to conduct comparative tests. “This was not a conference where people just came and talked,” says Marks. “We wanted to bring together the actual players involved in the practical aspects of viral detection, to get people to

I Bio-Africa Research Network Launched at Viral Check Conference and Workshop

learn how different diagnostic systems work, and compare technologies.”

The event, designed to define and discuss the current state of the art, brought together researchers and students from Israel, the U.S., Germany, Senegal, Nigeria, Uganda, French Guiana, South Africa, Ghana and the World Health Organization (WHO). The Pasteur Institute co-organized the conference.

Marks and Lobel refer to the African continent as an important area for studying diseases, since many viral diseases that exist in the world – such as Ebola, Marburg Virus, Rift Valley Fever and yellow fever – are only seen in central Africa. “Blood samples from survivors of these viral diseases are only available within Africa, which makes it an important resource as our goal is to study the actual people infected with viruses,” explains Lobel.

In addition to lectures and laboratory sessions, Marks and Lobel organized a “mock outbreak,” taking participants into a rural area where there had been an actual outbreak of yellow fever in the past. “We were in an area 160 kilometers from Dakar in which the local hospital meant to serve a population of 260,000 has only 10 beds. The conditions are quite appalling,” relates Marks.

“Virus hunters” Lobel and Marks come to their mission from rather different perspectives. Lobel is a virologist, dedicated to finding and creating therapeutics; Marks, a biotechnology expert who has developed sophisticated diagnostic tools based on biosensors.

In order to directly address the needs of African countries regarding surveillance and control of infectious diseases, Lobel and Marks have initiated the Bio-Africa Research Network (BARN), launched at the “ViralCheck” conference. Their aim in establishing the network is to create “a world-class Africa-based consortium focusing and combining the expertise of a network of leading research centers around the world and in Africa.”

The network would set up a centralized laboratory in Africa, where there would be continuous on-the-ground presence of scientists from the United States, the European Community and Israel working

hand-in-hand with African scientists.

“We listened to what the African researchers want,” said Marks. “They need diagnostics, especially immunodiagnostic tools, and help in writing applications for patents and grants.”

According to Israel’s Ambassador to Senegal, Gideon Behar, who played a key role in organizing ViralCheck, the conference “strengthened the relationship between Israel and Senegal, an important Muslim country, and other countries in Africa.” Behar hopes that the network, “an important contribution by BGU, will prove a realistic means in the exchange of information and cooperation, and reflects Israeli initiatives in Africa.”

Conference participants at the ViralCheck workshop

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