Palestine, Arab unity and British policy 1930–1945
Political views
Porath was on the
Meretz list in the
1992 Israeli elections for the
Knesset. He later readjusted his political views.[4][5] He opposed the
Oslo accords between PLO and Israel. In the
1996 elections he participated in the campaign of the
Likud party and supported
Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister.[6] The change in his political affiliations came due to the issue of whether or not the PLO would change the anti-Israel articles in its
covenant.[7] Porath was asked to translate recordings of the meeting of the
Palestine National Council which had pledged to make the changes.[8] Porath argued they had not, despite the Meretz and Labor parties insisting that they had.[9][10]
Since 1967 he argued that peace must be reached with Jordan and that this could not be done with representatives of Palestinian Arabs.
Porath defined himself as a "moderate, liberal and secular center man." He opposed the reestablishment of Jewish community in Gaza after the Six Day War, but opposed their forced removal in the Disengagement of 2005.
He was active in the Secular Movement and the Free People's Movement and had been an active member of the Shinui party. Haaretz reported that his wife said he "loved the Bible as a text."[11]
Personal life
He lived in
Jerusalem, and was married to Penina. They had two children. He died on November 24, 2019, in Jerusalem and was buried the next day in
Kibbutz Nahshon cemetery.[1]
Published works in English
‘’The Emergence of the Palestinian-Arab National Movement, 1918–1929’’, Cass (1974)
ISBN0-7146-2939-1
‘’The Palestinian-Arab National Movement, 1929–1939’’, Cass (1977)
ISBN1-1389-0736-7
‘’In Search of Arab Unity, 1930–1945’’, Cass (1986)
ISBN0-7146-3264-3
Published works in Hebrew
Social Aspects in the Growth of the Palestinian Arab Movement Jerusalem: Homol, 1971.
Growth of the Palestinian Arab National Movement: 1929-1918, Tel Aviv: Am Oved Publishing, 1976.
From riots to rebellion: Palestinian National Arab Movement 1939-1929, Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1969.
In the test of political action: Israel, Arab unity and British policy 1930–1945. Jerusalem: Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi , 1985.
Shelach and pen in hand: The story of Uriel Shelach's life ( Yonatan Ratosh ). Tel Aviv: Literary Notebooks , 1989.
^Prusher, Ilene R. (1998-12-10).
"Palestinians' tough call: end to anti-Israel words". Christian Science Monitor.
ISSN0882-7729. Retrieved 2020-10-22. The importance is that it's an indication of bad will," says Dr. Porat. "You cannot [make peace] with an organization that is committed to the destruction of Israel and the expulsion of Jews.