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Yossi Ben-Artzi: Israeli Historian and Geographer

Yossi Ben-Artzi (Hebrew:, born July 4, 1949) is an Israeli historian and geographer. Born in Haifa, Israel, he comes from a family with a rich history of settlement in the region. His father's family was instrumental in establishing the Mountain-Good Colony in the Judean Mountains in 1895.

Ben-Artzi graduated from the Hebrew Real School in Haifa in 1967 and served in the Israeli military, including a year as a deputy in the Permanent Army. He later joined the Carmeli Brigade, where he gained experience during the First Lebanon War. From 1992, Ben-Artzi served as the Deputy Commander of the Center for the Detection of Missing Persons in the IDF.

Ben-Artzi earned his Bachelor's degree in Geography and History of the Middle East from the University of Haifa, with a focus on the interpretation of residential and internal migration patterns among Arabs in Haifa. His second and third degrees were completed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he also received his doctorate in 1979 for his work on "Residential Patterns and Intra-Urban Migration of Arabs in Haifa." This research was later approved by the University of Tübingen in Germany.

Ben-Artzi's doctoral thesis focused on the design and development of physical arrays of Hebrew colonies in Palestine between 1914-1882. He also conducted extensive research on the cultural landscape of German immigrants who settled in Palestine during the 19th century.

Throughout his career, Ben-Artzi has held various academic positions, including lecturer (1984), senior lecturer (1989), and professor (1995) at the University of Haifa. In 2004, he was appointed Professor Emeritus. He served as Rector of the University of Haifa from 2004 to 2010.

Ben-Artzi has been a prominent advocate for the preservation of historical sites in Haifa, representing the public interest on behalf of the municipality's committee since his early years. His work has also involved collaboration with notable academics and intellectuals, including Yuval Noah Harari, David Harel, Kedar, Bennie Morris, Anita Shapira, and Prof. Joshua Ben-Arie.

Ben-Artzi passed away on January 25, 2017.