Ehud Adiv

Ehud Adiv
אהוד אדיב
Born	June 21, 1946 Haifa,Israel
Other names	Udi
Education	Tel Aviv University
Alma mater	University of Haifa
Occupation	Lecturer
Employer	Open University of Israel
Criminal charges	Treason
Criminal penalty	12.5 years in prison
Criminal status	Released

Ehud"Udi"Adiv(Hebrew:אהוד "אודי" אדיב) (born June 21, 1946) is an Israeli political scientist and was a lecturer at theOpen University of Israel.In his youth, he was a left-winganti-Zionistactivist who was eventually convicted oftreasonand membership in a hostile organizationand who served over a decade inprison.

Biography

Ehud "Udi" Adiv was born and raised onKibbutzGan Shmuel,one of four children born to Uriel (Uri) and Tova Adiv. Both of his parents weresabras,or native-born Jews in what was thenBritish Mandatory Palestine,and his father was likewise born on Gan Shmuel to one of the founders of the kibbutz.

Adiv grew up in a left-wing political environment. He was conscripted into theIsrael Defense Forcesand served in theParatroopers Brigade.He fought in theSix-Day War.He was among the soldiers who fought in the battle forJerusalem.He became disillusioned and politically radicalized by his wartime experiences.

Following his discharge from active service, Adiv enrolled atTel Aviv Universityand pursued undergraduate studies in philosophy and Middle Eastern studies. In the early 1970s, he joined the extreme left and became involved in militant anti-Zionist activities at conferences of the Israeli socialist organizationMatzpen.In 1971, while studying at theUniversity of Haifa,he joined a Marxist–Leninist group called the Revolutionary Communiust Alliance - Red Front.

Adiv established contact with Syrian intelligence, and met Habib Kawahji, a former Israeli-Arab who had emigrated from Israel after serving prison time for anti-Israeli Arab nationalist activities, and who was believed to be working for Arab intelligence agencies, inAthens.Through him, he established contact with Syrian intelligence and was sent toDamascus,having been given a Syrian passport in the name of George Khoury. He was accused of having met with Syrian intelligence agents, and allegedly giving them information about Israeli society, military bases, and recruitment codes among other things, as well as allegedly undergoing sabotage training before travelling back to Israel. Other members of the Red Front, some recruited by Adiv himself, were also involved in the plot. The Israeli internal security service,Shin Bet,discovered this, and the cell's members, including Adiv, were arrested in December 1972.

In 1973, the members of the cell were tried, convicted, and given varying prison sentences. Adiv, who had refused to express remorse for his actions, was sentenced to 17 years in prison. At his request, he was placed in the same wing of his prison thatPalestiniansecurity prisoners were held in.

In 1975, while still imprisoned, Adiv married Sylvia Klingberg, the daughter ofMarcus Klingberg,who would later be arrested and convicted for passing Israelibiological warfaresecrets to theSoviet Union.The ceremony was held inAyalon Prison.They divorced three years later. In 1981, he petitioned that he be allowed to marry Leah, who had been his girlfriend prior to his arrest, and that they be allowedconjugal visitsto have a child, but his request was refused. His appeal to thepresidentfor an amnesty was also rejected.

In May 1985, after more than twelve years in prison, Adiv was released from prison under restrictive conditions as part of theJibril Agreement.In August 1985, he married Leah. As they were too old to have a biological child, they requested permission to adopt a child. At first, welfare authorities refused their request, but later accepted it, subject to conditions.

Following his release, Adiv turned to political science studies. Three years after his release, he completed a doctoral thesis entitledPolitics and Identity: A Critical Analysis of Israeli Historiography and Political Thoughtat the University of London (under the supervision ofSami Zubaida) on Zionist historiography and particularly 1948 historiography. He was then appointed as a lecturer ofpolitical sciencein theOpen University of Israel.He also was accepted as a teacher at the Arab-Palestinian Film School inNazareth.

Controversy

In February 1973 controversy erupted over the trial ofDaud Turki,Udi Adiv andDan Vered,together with other Israeli leftist radicals of theRevolutionary Communist Alliance - Red Front,a splinter offshoot of the socialist organization in Israel (Matzpen). According to testimony at the trial, Adiv traveled clandestinely to Damascus via Athens to meet PLO resistance leaders. The case was dubbed by the Hebrew press as the "Syrian spy ring trial". Udi Adiv and Daud Turki were sentenced to seventeen years imprisonment.

Adiv was mentioned byYasser Arafatin his "Gun and the Olive Branch" speechbefore the United Nations General Assembly in 1974. In that speech, Arafat said: "As he stood in an Israeli military court, the Jewish revolutionary, Ehud Adiv, said: 'I am no terrorist; I believe that a democratic State should exist on this land.' Adiv now languishes in a Zionist prison among his co-believers. To him and his colleagues I send my heartfelt good wishes."

Of his experience, Adiv said: "For me and for many young people, the1967 warand its aftermath were a real shock. I woke up to the hypocrisy of theMapam,itsnationalismand refusal of any form of solidarity with the Palestinians. As a student I tried to make direct contact with the latter. And so, after a succession of secret meetings, I ended up, stupidly, in Damascus. Needless to say, I never gave the Syrians a scrap of information. "

Published works

• The Jewish Question and the Zionist Movement
• Adiv, Udi (1998).Politics and Identity: A Critical Analysis of Israeli Historiography and Political Thought.London: UP.

Films

• B'Yom Bahir Ro'im et Damesek(1984; "On a Clear Day You Can See Damascus" ), political thriller and debut film of directorEran Riklis
• Udi Adiv, A Broken Israeli Myth

External links

• "Could Israel's kibbutz experiment finally fail?".Le Monde Diplomatique.August 2000.
• "Israeli court orders release of aging spy".The Jerusalem Post.September 11, 1998.
• Uri Davis(Winter, 1996)."Citizenship legislation in the Syrian Arab Republic".Arab Studies Quarterly.
• "The Sabra Spies"Time.December 25, 1972.