LEWISTON – The Israeli consul to New England will give a lecture on peace in the Middle East at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8, at Bates College.

Hillel Newman will present “Prospects for Peace in the Middle East: After Arafat” in Chase Hall Lounge on Campus Avenue. The event is free and open to the public.

From 1992 to 1998, Newman taught history at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan outside of Tel Aviv.

He recently returned to academia as an adjunct associate professor at the Center for Judaic Studies at Boston University.

Since leaving Bar-Ilan University, Newman served as assistant to foreign minister David Levy from 1999 to 2000, and as policy adviser to Israeli President Moshe Katsav in 2000-01.

Newman also served for brief periods in Athens, Greece; Ankara, Turkey; and Tashkent, Uzbekistan.