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Avraham Burg
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Avraham Burg (born January 19, 1955) is an Israeli politician.
Burg was born in Jerusalem and is the son of Yosef Burg, a minister in several Israeli governments himself. He served in the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces (Israel has a mandatory conscription act, and most 18 year old men and women have to enlist), and graduated as a lieutenant in the paratroopers brigade. He then studied Social Sciences at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Burg was an activist in left wing organizations and the Peace Now movement. In 1985 he took a position as an advisor to Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and in 1988 he was elected to the Knesset through the Israeli Labour Party.
In 1995 he was appointed chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, and resigned from the Knesset. During his years at office the Zionist organization took on new functions and responsibilities such as the returning of Jewish property lost during the Holocaust.
In 1999 he was elected speaker of the Knesset, a position he held until early 2003. In his capacity as speaker of the Knesset he served as acting President of Israel for 20 days, from July 12, 2000, to August 1, 2000, when the presidency was vacant. In 2001 he ran for head of the Labor Party, and lost.
In October of 2003 Burg caused a sensation when he published an article in the British newspaper The Guardian named 'The end of Zionism', calling for a quick withdrawal from the Palestinian Territories.
In 2004 he resigned from public life. However, he has remained active on a small scale around the world, giving lectures at events sponsored by for example the Dutch Israel advocacy organization 'CIDI'.