Doctor Itamar Radai

Adjunct Lecturer,

School of Social Sciences and Humanities
Land of Israel studies M.A

Areas of Expertise

Israeli-Arab Conflict, Israel Studies, History of the Palestinians, Middle East Studies.

Selected Courses

Tel Aviv-Jaffa Field Course -BA
The Israeli War of Independence (1948) -MA

Additional Roles

Research Fellow of Israel Studies, Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University.
Teaching Fellow, Tel Aviv University.
Teaching Fellow, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Selected Publications

M.A. / M.Sc. Thesis
Arab Irregular Forces and Community Organization in the Area of Jerusalem, December 1947 – May 1948, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2002. Supervisor: Prof. Alon Kadish (Hebrew).
Ph.D. Dissertation
A Tale of Two Cities: Palestinian Arab Society, Institutions, and Fighters in Jerusalem and Jaffa, 1947-1948, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2010. Supervisors: Prof. Alon Kadish, Prof. Moshe Maoz (Hebrew).

Scientific Books
1. Palestinians in Jerusalem and Jaffa, 1948: A Tale of Two Cities. London and New York: Routledge, 2016.
2. A Tale of Two Cities: The Palestinians in Jerusalem and Jaffa, 1947-1948. Tel Aviv: Dayan Center for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, and the Weizmann Institute for the Study of Zionism and Israel, Tel Aviv University, 2015 (Hebrew).
3. The Third Battalion: The ‘Galilee Battalion’ of the Yiftach Palmach Brigade in the Israeli War of Independence. Tel Aviv: Yehuda Dekel Publishers and the Council for Heritage Sites in Israel, 2014 (Hebrew).
Authored/Edited Books

1. Jerusalem: Studies in the Struggle for Jerusalem at the War for Independence, ‘Aley Zait Vacherev Series, vol. 13. Jerusalem: Carmel, 2013 (Hebrew, edited together with Nir Mann).

Articles in Refereed Journals
1. “Images and Perceptions of Jews from Islamic Countries among European Jews in Palestine under the Mandate: The Case of Hannah Helena Thon”, Iyunim: Multidisciplinary Studies in Israeli and Modern Jewish Society (formerly: Iyunim Bitkumat Israel), vol. 32, 2019 (Hebrew, accepted, forthcoming).
2. “History and Historiography: Israeli historical research on the 1948 War”, Hamizrach Hechadash vol. 59, 2019, 119-141 (Hebrew).
3. “The Rise and Fall of the Palestinian Arab Middle Class under the Mandate, 1920-1939”, Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 51, no. 3, July 2016, 487–506.
4. “Bourgeois Arab Society in Jerusalem under British Colonial Rule”, Iyunim Bitkumat Israel, vol. 25, 2015, 467-487 (Hebrew).
5. “Jaffa, 1948: the fall of a City”, Journal of Israeli History, vol. 30, no. 1, March 2011, 23-43.
6. “The Collapse of the Palestinian-Arab Middle Class in 1948: the Case of Qatamon”, Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 43, no. 6, November 2007, 961-982.
Articles or Chapters in Refereed Books
1. “The Palestinian Arab Middle Class”, in Michael Cohen (ed.), Re-Visiting the Palestine Triangle: The Centenary of the British Mandate, 1920-2020. London and New York: Routledge, 2020 (Accepted, forthcoming).
2. “‘Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni: a Palestinian Commander in the 1948 War”, in Nir Mann and Itamar Radai (eds.), Jerusalem: Studies in the Struggle for Jerusalem at the War for Independence, ‘Aley Zait Vacherev Series, vol. 13. Jerusalem: Carmel, 2013, 213-254 (Hebrew).
3. “Between the Hammer and the Anvil: The Collapse of the Palestinian Society in Jaffa in 1948, and the Fall of the City”, in Mordechai Bar-On and Meir Chazan (eds.), Citizens at War: Studies on the Civilian Society during the Israeli War of Independence, Part II, Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi and Tel Aviv University, 2009, 120-149, (Hebrew).
4. “The Collapse and Exodus of the Palestinian Middle Class: Qatamon as a Case Study”, Mordechai Bar-On and Meir Chazan (eds.), Citizens at War: Studies on the Civilian Society during the Israeli War of Independence, Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi and Tel Aviv University, 2006, 339-372 (Hebrew).
5. “Arab Irregular Forces in the Battle for Jerusalem, Late April – Late May 1948”, Assnat Shiran (ed.), Jews and Arabs in a Protracted Struggle, Aley Zayit Vacherev, vol. 6, 2006, 55-98 (Hebrew).
Other articles (in collections or non-refereed journals)
1. “Jaffa, 1948: Fighting, Institutions, and Society from the Partition Resolution (1947) to the Entry of the Arab Liberation Army (February 1948)”, in Alon Kadish (ed.), 1948 and After: War, the Military and Society – The Jerusalem School. Ben Shemen: Modan, 2016, 48-93 (Hebrew).
2. “From Sadat’s visit to the Intifada: The Palestinians under Israel, 1977-1987”, Yechiam Weitz, Zvi Zameret (eds.), Israel, the Fourth Decade. Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 2016, 359-376 (Hebrew).
3. “Qatamon, 1948: The Fall of a Neighborhood”, Jerusalem Quarterly, Issue 46, summer 2011, 6-14.
Book in preparation
From Mandate to State: Planning the Israeli Institutes and Policies vis-à-vis the Arab Citizens

Interested in Kinneret Academic Studies?

Fill in your details and a study advisor will get back to you soon!