Qedma Experts

Co-Executive Director

Celine Touboul

Celine Touboul is co-Executive Director of Qedma. She leads Qedma's policy efforts related to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, as well as its work on regional policy and Gaza-related issues.

Celine Touboul is co-Executive Director of Qedma. She leads Qedma's policy efforts related to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as well as Qedma's work on regional policy issues and Gaza-related issues.

Celine is also a member of Forum Deborah, an Israeli forum working to enhance the role of women in foreign policy and national security, a member of the board of the H.L. Education for Peace (the Geneva Initiative), and a member of Commanders for Israel Security's working group on Gaza.

Celine is a former research fellow at the NATO Defense College, and is a lawyer specializing in international public law. She worked at the Department for International Agreements of Israel's Ministry of Justice to complete her professional legal training.

Celine holds an M.A. in International Public Law from the University of Paris-Sud and an M.A. in International Relations from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Co-Executive Director

Ron Shtazberg

Ron Shatzberg is co-Executive Director of Qedma, focusing on regional security, border regime, Jerusalem, and cross-border cooperation strategies, as well as Jordanian-Israeli relations.

Ron Shatzberg is co-Executive Director of Qedma. In his current capacity he deals with regional security, border regime, Jerusalem, and cross-border cooperation strategies, as well as with Jordanian-Israeli relations. Ron holds a B.A. in Journalism and Political Science, and an M.A. in Conflict Resolution, both from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

For 11 years Ron was an adviser for the International Community of the Red Cross (ICRC) on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and Laws of Armed Conflict (LoAC) with respect to their relations with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Ron is an IDF Colonel (res.); in his last position he served as Chief of Staff of an Infantry Brigade.

Chief Financial Officer

Michal Tessone

Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts.

Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.
Senior Policy Director

Eli Kowaz

Eli Kowaz is Senior Director of Policy and Communications at Qedma. He previously served as Communications Director at Israel Policy Forum and has spent his career working on US-Israel relations, Israeli politics, and public diplomacy.

Eli Kowaz is Senior Director of Policy and Communications at Qedma. He previously served as Communications Director at Israel Policy Forum and has spent his career working on US-Israel relations, Israeli politics, and public diplomacy.

His analysis has appeared in the Times of Israel, Haaretz, and JTA.

He holds an MA in Government from Reichman University, specializing in diplomacy and conflict studies in the Middle East, along with a master's from Toronto Metropolitan University and a BA (Honours) from McGill University. Based in Tel Aviv.

Senior Policy Director

Anat Kauffman

Anat Kaufmann is Director of Economic Development and Cooperation at Qedma, focusing on trade and economic cooperation ventures and related policy-planning issues in the West Bank and other cross-border areas.

Anat Kaufmann is Director of Economic Development and Cooperation at Qedma. Her areas of responsibility include cooperation in trade and economic ventures, related policy-planning issues in the West Bank, and other cross-border issues.

She worked as a researcher at the World Health Organization's (WHO) Israeli-Palestinian satellite research program at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, and worked for the Africa and Latin America department at the UK's leading international organization on poverty alleviation in the developing world (VSO International).

Anat holds a B.A. (Cum Laude) in Politics from the University of London, and an MSc in NGOs and Development from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE).

Senior Policy Director

Eran Tzidkiyahu

Eran Tzidkiyahu is Senior Policy Director at Qedma. He is a scholar of Jewish-Arab relations and a geopolitical guide of the Holy Land, specializing in the interface between religious and national movements in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Eran Tzidkiyahu is Senior Policy Director at Qedma, a scholar studying Jewish-Arab relations, and a geopolitical guide of the Holy Land. Trained as a historical-political sociologist, he specializes in the interface between religious and national movements. He wrote his Ph.D. dissertation at Sciences Po Paris, titled "From the Margins to the Center: Religious-Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – A Comparative Approach," and is an alumnus of the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

As a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University (2023–2024), he studied the Jewish-Muslim struggle over the Temple Mount/al-Aqsa Mosque and taught a course on the Holy Esplanade. He is a Research Fellow at the Forum for Regional Thinking, writing on religious-nationalism in the Middle East and Jewish-Arab relations, with an emphasis on East Jerusalem and the city's holy sites, and hosts a Hebrew-language podcast on Middle East affairs with the Van Leer Institute, the Forum for Regional Thinking, and MEISAI.

Eran has guided since 2005, including geopolitical tours of East Jerusalem, and has held roles at the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land (advising on religious leaders' involvement in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks), and Search for Common Ground. Since 2016 he has worked independently as a geopolitical guide, lecturer, and consultant to politicians, diplomats, researchers, and journalists across Israel-Palestine and other conflict areas. He is fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, English, and French, and lives in Jerusalem.