Israeli historian Yoav Gelber will give a series of lectures about Israel and the Middle East on Sept. 30, Oct. 3 and Oct. 9 at Knox College. Gelber is a scholar-in-residence at Knox this fall and is teaching a course at Knox, "Zionism on the Threshold of the 21st Century." All three lectures are free and open to the public in the Common Room, Old Main.

On Monday, Sept. 30, Gelber will give a lecture, "The Risks and Chances of the Peace Process in the Middle East." On Thursday, Oct. 3, he will discuss "Moralist and Realist Approaches: The Allies' Attitude to the Holocaust." On Wednesday, Oct. 9 his talk is entitled "Zionism on the Threshold of the 21st Century."

Gelber, a native Israeli, is a professor of history at the University of Haifa, director of the Strochlitz Institute for Research and Study of the Holocaust, and head of the Herzl Institute for Research and Study of Zionism. He is the author or editor of fifteen books and more than 40 scholarly articles, including a four-volume study, Jewish Palestinian Volunteering in the British Army during World War II.

Gelber's recent research has focused on the Israeli intelligence services. Since 1978, he has served as coordinator of an ongoing 24-volume project entitled The Comprehensive History of the Holocaust. His scholarship has earned him the 1986 Ben-Zvi Prize for research in the history of the land of Israel, the 1990 Ruppin Prize for research in Jewish history, and the 1993 Itzhak Sade Prize for military literature. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in history from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Gelber's residency is part of an ongoing program to enrich the teaching of Jewish studies at Knox. Funding has been provided by the Jewish Chautauqua Society, the Nixon Fund for Religious Life, and an anonymous donor.

Founded in 1837, Knox is an independent, four-year, liberal arts college, located in Galesburg, Illinois, with 1,100 students from 42 states and 33 nations. Knox's "Old Main," a National Historic Landmark, is the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.