He developed from an uncompromising hardliner to supporter of a Palestinian state who recognized the PLO as a negotiations partner.

In his most well-known work Israel's Fateful Hour, Harkabi described himself as a "Machiavellian dove" intent on searching "for a policy by which Israel can get the best possible settlement of the conflict in the Middle East" (1988, p. xx) - a policy that would include a Zionism "of quality and not of acreage" (p. 225).

Harkabi was forced to resign as chief of Military Intelligence as a consequence of the 1959 Night of the Ducks.

[1] Following his military career, Harkabi served as a visiting professor at Princeton University and guest scholar at the Brookings Institution.

He was Maurice Hexter professor and director of the Leonard Davis Institute of International Relations and Middle East Studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.