THE BEGIN SADAT CENTER
FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES
THE BEGIN SADAT CENTER
FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES
STRENGTHENING ISRAEL
through diplomacy and negotiation
GROUND BREAKING TREATY
CONTINUES TO INSPIRE
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) was founded in 1993 by Dr. Thomas O. Hecht, as a non-partisan and independent institute affiliated with the Political Science Department at Bar-Ilan University. It was named in memory of Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat (BEgin-SAdat), whose groundbreaking Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty laid the cornerstone for conflict resolution in the Middle East.
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies has partnered in conferences and research activities with leading strategic studies centers around the world – such the RAND Corporation, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, and the IDF’s own National Defense College.
Where do the most creative minds
agree to disagree?
INTENSIVE
GLOBAL OUTREACH
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies has been ranked as one of the three top think tanks in the Middle East and Africa, along with Carnegie Middle East Center in Lebanon and the Gulf Research Center of Saudi Arabia, and as the leading strategic think tank in Israel.
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies seeks to advance a realistic, conservative and Zionist agenda in the search for security and peace for Israel.  Over the years, BESA has been the first to successfully place on the public agenda issues such as the problematic aspects of Palestinian Statehood, the danger of Arab chemical and biological weapons and missile stocks, Israel’s relations with key countries such as Turkey and India, and the abuse of international institutions in the attempt to delegitimize Israel. Today, BESA leads an attempt to introduce creative thinking about alternatives to the entrenched two-state paradigm in the Israeli-Palestinian peace diplomacy, and an initiative to nourish U.S.-Israeli relations.
STRATEGY
STRATEGY
ISSUES OF IMPORTANCE
TACKLED BY
IMPORTANT PEOPLE
BESA Center experts have been interviewed thousands of times in more than 150 newspapers and quality defense publications around the world, from The New York Times and The Washington Post, to The Times of London, Jane’s Defense Weekly and The Jerusalem Post. BESA Center associates have spoken at conferences and symposia in more than 30 countries. Center research associates have been guest lecturers at many institutions around the world.
Over the past 25 years, BESA has produced some 750 original research and policy papers as well as 25 books. It has conducted more than 600 symposia and international conferences — for defense, military industry, and intelligence and foreign policy specialists, as well as diplomats, businesspeople, academics and politicians.
These publications and policy recommendations are directed toward senior Israeli decision-makers in military and civilian life, the defense and foreign affairs establishments in Israel and abroad, the diplomatic corps, the press, the academic community, leaders of Jewish communities around the world, and the educated public.
BESA Center experts discuss Israel’s policy options in responding to Palestinian terrorism and reinforcing Israel’s hold in its capital city. They discuss the expansion of Jerusalem, proposals for sharing Jerusalem, how to handle Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, and Jewish prayer on Temple Mount.
Professor Efraim
Karsh
director
BEGIN SADAT CENTER
FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES
“...so long as Gaza continues
to be governed by Hamas’s
rule of the jungle,
no Palestinian civil society,
let alone a viable state, can develop.
it is only when the local population
sweeps its oppressive rulers from power,
eradicates the endemic violence
from political and social life, and teaches
the virtues of coexistence with Israel
that Gaza can look forward to a better future.â€
In
Focus
Professor Efraim
Karsh
director
BEGIN SADAT CENTER
FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES
“...so long as Gaza continues
to be governed by Hamas’s
rule of the jungle,
no Palestinian civil society,
let alone a viable state, can develop.
it is only when the local population
sweeps its oppressive rulers
from power,
eradicates the endemic violence
from political and social life,
and teaches
the virtues of coexistence with Israel
that Gaza can look forward to
a better future.â€
In
Focus
Professor Efraim Karsh is the Director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
Born and raised in Israel, Prof. Karsh earned his undergraduate degree in Arabic language and literature and modern Middle Eastern history from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and his graduate and doctoral degrees in international relations from Tel Aviv University. After acquiring his first academic degree, he served for seven years as an intelligence officer in the Israel Defense Forces, where he attained the rank of major.
He has held various academic posts at Harvard and Columbia Universities, the Sorbonne, the London School of Economics, Helsinki University, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, and the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies in Washington D.C.
In 1989 he joined King’s College London, where he established the Middle East and Mediterranean Studies Program (currently the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies), directing it for 16 years. In 2013 he joined Bar-Ilan University, and in October 2016 became director of the BESA Center for Strategic Studies.
Prof. Karsh has published extensively on the Middle East, strategic and military affairs, and European neutrality. He is the author of over 100 scholarly articles and sixteen books. 
Prof. Karsh has appeared as a commentator on all the main British and American television networks and has contributed to leading newspapers and magazines. He is founding editor of the scholarly journal Israel Affairs, now in its twenty-fourth year, and founding general editor of a Routledge book series on Israeli History, Politics and Society, with over 60 books published.