Dr. Gershon Baskin (born 1956) was the Israeli Co-Director and founder of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Informatio (IPCRI)  a joint Israeli-Palestinian public policy “think and do”-tank located in Jerusalem. Since January 2012 he is the Co-Chairman of IPCRI’s Board of Directors. He was the initiator and the person responsible for the secret back channel between Israel and the Hamas that successfully negotiated the release of Israeli abducted soldier Gilead Schalit, and served as an advisor on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to a secret team of intelligence officers established during the Yitzhak Rabin administration. Baskin is currently a columnist for the Jerusalem Post and continues to act as a social and political activist and researcher of the Israeli Palestinian conflict and peace process. Baskin holds a Ph.D. in International relations from the University of Greenwich.