Dr. Omri Eilat
Dr. Omri Eilat is a historian of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey. His research focuses on the relations between the state, local elites, and entrepreneurs in late Ottoman Syria, the subject of his doctoral dissertation and subsequent book project.
Following his PhD, Dr. Eilat served as director of the research institute at the Druze Heritage Center in Israel. He has also been a researcher in projects concerning maritime and energy policy in modern Turkey and inter-state relations in the Eastern Mediterranean at the University of Haifa and the National Center for Blue Economy. His publications cover both historical and contemporary geopolitical aspects of the region.
Selected Publications
“Water is Thicker than Gas: Turkey, UNCLOS, and the Eastern Mediterranean in the Gas Decade, 2010–2020,” Journal of the Middle East and Africa 16, no. 4 (2025): 377–400.
“David Yellin, Muhammad Kurd ‘Ali, and the Great Library of Damascus during the First World War,” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 52, no. 3 (2025): 583–599.
“The Ottoman Empire and the ‘Druze Problem’: Aspects of War and Containment in the 1895-96 Rebellion in the Hauran,” The New East (Ha-Mizrah He-Hadash) 63 (2024): 99–126 [Hebrew].
“Power and Light, Profit and Loss: The Establishment and Operation of the Damascus Electricity and Tramway Company, 1903-1914,” Middle Eastern Studies 60, no. 3 (2024): 428–443.
“Breaking The Barriers: The Historical Turn in Israel-Turkey Relations, 2009-2025,” in Maritime Strategic Evaluation for Israel, 2024/25, eds. Shaul Chorev and Eitan Livneh. Haifa: MPS, 2026.
“The Druze Protest in the Summer of 2023,” Bayan: The Arabs in Israel, No. 30 (2023): 3–8.
“From Sea to Shining Sea: The Reorientation of Turkish Foreign Policy in 2022,” in Maritime Strategic Evaluation for Israel, 2021/22, eds. Shaul Chorev and Ziv Rubinowitz. Haifa: Haifa University Press, 2023.