Benjamin Shwadran

Benjamin Shwadran
Born	1907 Old City of Jerusalem,
Fields	Middle Eastern Studies
Institutions	New School for Social Research, Dropsie College, Yeshiva University, Hofstra University, Tel Aviv University, and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Alma mater	The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Clark University

Dr. Benjamin Shwadran (born 1907) is an author and professor of Middle Eastern studies. He was born in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Education

Shwadran was one of the first students (and the youngest) to enroll in the Institute of Jewish Studies at the new Hebrew University, when it began to offer instruction in 1924. Shwadran went to the US in 1927, and completed his studies at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he received a doctorate in 1945.

Academia

Shwadran first taught Middle Eastern studies at the New School for Social Research in New York, and then as Professor of Middle Eastern studies and Director of the Middle East Institute at Dropsie College and Yeshiva University. Shwadran then taught as a Professor of political science at Hofstra University. Shwadran spent the 1968–69 academic year as a visiting research associate at the Shiloah Center (precursor of the Moshe Dayan Center). In 1973, he retired to Jerusalem, and continued to teach as a Professor of Modern Middle East History at Tel Aviv University and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Publications

His major books include The Middle East, Oil, and the Great Powers (1955, 1959, and 1973), Jordan, A State of Tension (1959; The University of Chicago Press), The Power Struggle in Iraq (1960), and Middle East Oil Crises since 1973 (1986).

Shawdran Collection

The Moshe Dayan Center is home to the Shwadran Collection, a collection of press clippings and documents first assembled by Shwadran in his capacity as head of the research department of the American Zionist Emergency Council (AZEC), a coordinating body of American Zionist organizations, associated with Cleveland rabbi Abba Hillel Silver. The AZEC later created a spin-off, the Council for Middle Eastern Affairs, which sponsored a monthly journal, Middle Eastern Affairs. Shwadran was Editor of the journal and of the Council for Middle Eastern Affairs Press from January 1950 until December 1963. The collection covers the entire Middle East, but is strongest for mandatory Palestine, the first decade of Israeli independence, Arab-Jewish and Arab-Israeli relations, and American Zionism.

External links

• Jordan: A State of Tension (1959)