Col. Uri Dromi, Israeli Air Force Reserve, is director general of the Mishkenot Sha'ananim conference center in Jerusalem. From 1996 to 2007, he was director of International Outreach at the Israel Democracy Institute. He was born in 1946 in Pardes Hanna, Israel. He is married to Dalia, and they have three children: Yael, Danny and Shai. Dromi served in the Israeli Air Force in 1964-89 as a navigator. Participated in the Six Day War, War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon War and flew many operational missions.
He was the chief education officer of the Israeli Air Force and the editor-in-chief of the IAF Magazine and the IDF Publishing House. Retired from active duty in 1989, he keeps flying regularly in the reserves, in the same squadron he joined in 1966. From 1989 to 1992, he was the North American director of information for the World Zionist Organization. In 1992-96, Dromi was the director of the Government Press Office, being the chief spokesman for the Rabin and Peres governments.
Dromi graduated from Ben Gurion University (history) and started doctoral studies at the Hebrew University. He teaches communications at the College of Management in Tel Aviv and military history at the Command and Staff College. He has published three books and numerous articles in Israeli and international newspapers.
JERUSALEM -- Israel is celebrating its 60th anniversary, and this creates some fuss in the world media. Having just passed this age myself, I can say that this is a good age to fondly reflect on your past achievements, while still having a lot of plans in store for the future.
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JERUSALEM -- Precisely when the prospect of peace between Israelis and Palestinians never seemed more remote, I received a call from my friend Walid Salem. Walid is a Palestinian peace activist, who for years has been working tirelessly for a two-state solution. He said that I should come to the Ambassador Hotel here, where one of the organizations he has been involved with, Bringing Peace Together, was holding a roundtable discussion about the situation.
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JERUSALEM -- Last Thursday night, I was watching a silly movie on television, starting to drive away the week's troubles and preparing for a pleasant, lazy weekend.
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JERUSALEM -- A few weeks ago, Timo Friedmann, the automobile correspondent of the German newspaper Bild, arrived in Israel. Nothing exceptional, you might say, except that Friedmann came all the way from Hamburg with his Volkswagen Tuareg, finishing a trip that took him cross Europe to Turkey, then via Syria and Jordan to Israel. His verdict on fellow drivers he met on the road was damning: ``Except for the Syrians, Israeli drivers are the worst. On the road, everyone is fighting.''
