Prof. Moshe Brawer is one of the founding generations of Israeli geography, and is one of the top researchers in the field. He is a pioneer in many fields of action that combine first-class academic work, the distribution of geographic knowledge to the general public and the application of geographic knowledge in political and civil action.
His scientific work focuses on three main areas: the study of borders, cartography and the creation of maps and the study of rural settlements in the eastern Mediterranean and in the Land of Israel with a special focus on the Arab countryside during the period of British rule and in the State of Israel. In all these fields, Prof. Brawer's research is pioneering, and in all of them he has earned himself a central position in the community of geographers in Israel and around the world.
Moshe Brawer was the first among the geographers in Israel to raise the study of borders in the world and in Israel as a central topic in research. He revealed the majority of the documents found in state archives and public bodies in England, France, the USA, Turkey and Israel, documents relating to the method of determining the location of the borders, charting their course and marking them on the surface. His articles and his main book on the subject - "Israel's Borders - Past, Present , Atid" - received a wide scientific and public circulation, and his book was even translated into Arabic at the initiative of the foreign ministries in Damascus and Amman, as well as in the foreign departments of the USA, Great Britain and Germany. Prof. Brawer's border studies are among the most advanced in terms of the approach that combines the interrelationships between the factors and ways of creating the border and the nature of the space in which it was "implanted". His work on border research led to his appointment as a consultant to the governments of Israel in the field of delineating the country's borders during the peace talks with Egypt, and especially during the demarcation of the border with the Kingdom of Jordan.
In the area of the village in the Middle East, Prof. Brawer conducted the most comprehensive geographical research ever done on the Arab village in the Land of Israel. The diagnoses and conclusions of the study are embedded and clarified in many publications. Much of the research material is currently in the hands of state authorities and serves as a basic source of information about the Arab villages.
More than anything, Prof. Baror is recognized among the general public in Israel as the most important scientist in the field of compiling geographic atlases that generations of students are educated on. His cartographic activity was reflected in the publication of a series of atlases for the various levels of education, from elementary schools to the university. The atlases he published deal with the entire world as well as special geographical areas such as the Middle East, South America, Russia and the independent republics. The atlas on Russia and the independent republics was published in the English language, and school atlases were also published in the Arabic language. As a pioneer in the field of editing atlases, Prof. Brawer had to build a database of tens of thousands of Hebrew transcriptions and edit dozens of new maps adapted to the needs of the Israeli user. In addition to the atlases, Prof. Brawer published eighteen wall maps which are another contribution to the infrastructure required for spreading geographic knowledge in Israeli society.
Prof. Brawer is the founder of the geography departments at Tel Aviv (together with Prof. Elisha Efrat) and Bar-Ilan universities, and headed them for several years. He also directed geography studies at the IDF Command and Staff School. His energy and skills were also directed to activities within the geographic community, and he served, among other things, as the president of the association and for 30 years a member of the "Professional Committee" in the field of teaching geography at the Ministry of Education. Years Many times he was a member of the Government Names Committee and a fellow of the State Geographical Society in London.
For all of these, the judges' committee decided to award Prof. Moshe Brawer the Israel Prize in the study of geography for the year 2002.