Brig. General (Ret.) Shalom Harari was born in Israel. He started his military service in the military intelligence ("AMAN"), Research Department, working on the "desk" of Iraq, Syria and later Egypt. In 1972 he moved to the Collection Department and specialized in Sigint (signal intelligence) and Humint (human intelligence). From 1977 onward he served as adviser on Palestinian affairs in the West Bank Command. In 1983 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and was nominated head of the West Bank's Palestinian Affairs Department of the Israeli Civil Administration. Following that, from 1984 until 1997, he served as the head of the Department of Palestinian Affairs in the Ministry of Defense.