Itamar Rabinovich, the president of the Israel Institute (Washington and Jerusalem),  is Israel's former Ambassador to the United States and former Chief Negotiator with Syria in the mid 1990's and the former president of Tel-Aviv University (1999-2007). Currently he is Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern History of Tel Aviv University, Distinguished Global Professor at NYU and a Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Prof. Rabinovich has been a member of Tel Aviv University's faculty since 1971 and served as Ettinger Professor of the Contemporary History of the Middle-East, Chairman of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Director of the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Dean of Humanities and Rector. He is the Vice Chairman of the INSS (Institute for National Security Studies), an external institute of TAU, and a senior research fellow at the Dayan Center for Middle-Eastern studies.  He is co-editor of the Center's new review journal, Bustan.