Arnon Soffer is a prominent Israeli geographer and professor emeritus of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa, where he joined the Department of Geography in 1963 and is recognized as one of the university's founders. He founded the Chaikin Chair for Geostrategy in 2004 and served as head of the Chaikin Department of Geostrategy. His research focuses on demography, water resources, environmental issues, political geography, and strategic concerns related to Israel, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over water. Soffer has published extensively, including the book Rivers of Fire: The Conflict Over Water in the Middle East (1999). He has been influential in Israeli policy discussions on demographics and security, advising Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the 2004 Gaza disengagement plan and developing demographic strategies to separate Israel from Palestinian populations due to perceived threats to Israel's Jewish majority, including isolating Gaza and building separation barriers. Soffer is controversial for his hardline views, warning that high Palestinian birth rates threaten Israel's existence as a Jewish state and urging aggressive measures, including against Bedouin communities in the Negev. Critics, including from The Electronic Intifada, have accused him of advocating ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Bedouins to prevent Israel from being 'destroyed' by their population growth, describing his statements as alarmist and potentially genocidal.