Asher Susser, PhD (Tel Aviv University, 1986), is the Stanley and Ilene Gold Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University and former Director of the Center (1989-1995, 2001-2007). Professor Susser teaches in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History and in 2006 he received the Faculty of Humanities outstanding teacher’s award. His research focuses on the history and politics of Jordan and the Palestinians; religion and state in the Middle East; and Arab-Israeli issues.

Professor Susser is the author of numerous books, including The Rise of Hamas and the Crisis of Secularism in the Arab World ( 2010), Jordan: Case Study of a Pivotal State (2000), and Political Biography of Jordan’s Prime Minister Wasfi al- Tall (1994); editor of Challenges to the Cohesion of the Arab State (2008), Six Days-Thirty Years: New Perspectives on the Six Day War (1999); and co-editor of The Hashemites in the Modern Arab World (1995) and At the Core of the Conflict: The Intifada (1992, in Hebrew). He has also authored many book chapters and journal articles on the Arab world, Israel, and the Palestinians.

Prof. Susser spent the 2009-10 academic year on sabbatical at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University, where he taught, lectured, and participated in conferences and symposia. During that time, he also guest lectured at Yale and Northwestern universities, and spoke at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Susser will be teaching in the UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.