He was the Giancarlo Elia Valori Professor of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he held the "Chair for the Study of Peace and Regional Cooperation". He was also the Director of the "Swiss Center for Conflict Research, Management and Resolution" at the Hebrew University, and the Head of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies. A recipient of the Israeli Association for International Studies' Lifetime Achievement Award, Professor Bar-Siman-Tov was a noted expert in the fields of management and resolution of international conflicts; negotiation; decision-making; and the Arab Israeli conflict. He was also a member of the Arabic and Middle Eastern StudiesAdvisory Board at Yale University Press; member of the "Global Faculty of Education for Peace" at the "International Education for Peace Institute"; and an Associate Partner at the "Jerusalem Peace Academy". He is listed in Who's Who in Academia, and in Who's Who in International Organizations. In 2000, Bar-Siman-Tov founded the Swiss Center for Conflict Research, Management and Resolution at the Hebrew University, the first center for the study of conflict resolution in Israel. He has been serving as the Swiss Center's Director ever since. Since 2003, he has also been the Head of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, an independent, non-partisan, think-tank which provides data, policy papers, and professional analyses for a variety of governmental bodies, public institutions, civil organizations, decision-makers, researchers, and the general public. He also held several additional senior academic positions at the Hebrew University, including "Chair of the International Relations Department" ; "Chair of the Social Sciences Faculty Teaching Committee" ; and "Director of the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations".
Published works
Bar-Siman-Tov has written extensively in the fields of international relations, negotiation, decision-making, and the Arab Israeli conflict. Since the 1990s, his research primarily has focused on conflict resolution, and on management and resolution of international conflicts. He is the author of seven books:
The Israeli-Egyptian War of Attrition 1969-1970: A Case Study of Limited Local War. It won the "Landau Prize" for the best book on Middle East studies for the year 1982.
Linkage Politics in the Middle East: Syria Between Domestic and External Conflict, 1961-1970
As the Generals See It: The Collapse of the Oslo Process and the Violent Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict from a Peace Process to a Violent Confrontation: 2000-2005 It won the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize for the best book in military studies for the year of 2006.
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: From Conflict Resolution to Conflict Management
Forty Years in Jerusalem1967-2007
''The Disengagement Plan - An Idea Shattered
Barriers to Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict