Ofer Zalzberg is Director of the Middle East Program at the Herbert C. Kelman Institute. He is an Ussher PhD fellow at Trinity College Dublin, where he focuses on how conflict resolution addresses sanctity. And he teaches at a religious-secular Beit Midrash on the interplay between Jewish tradition and modern sovereignty.
He previously worked as a Senior Analyst in Crisis Group’s Middle East Program, covering Israel’s relations with its neighbours, with a focus on the nexus between religion, national identity and conflict. Over the last twenty years he has also been consulting several international and Middle Eastern organizations including the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, Search for Common Ground, Oxford Research Group, Interpeace, the Palestine-Israel Journal and the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
Ofer is a trained group facilitator and a co-designer of the Kumi group facilitation method for participatory strategic planning in conflict situations. His experience extends from co-facilitating disarmament workshops for paramilitary organizations in Northern Ireland to convening workshops and study trips for senior and mid-level, conservative, right-leaning Jewish and Muslim religious authorities who work to support Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic peace-making.
He has written for international and Middle Eastern mainstream media including CNN, Le Figaro, Le Monde Diplomatique, Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft, World Politics Review, Al Quds al Arabi, Al Jazeera, Today’s Zaman, The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, Al Quds, Haaretz, Jerusalem Post and the Times of Israel.
