Sari Nusseibeh
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Sari Nusseibeh
(Sari Anwar Nusaybah): Academic; Professor of Islamic Philosophy, President of Al Quds University, former PLO
representative in Jerusalem, co-author of the People's Voice initiative to build
grassroots support for a Two State Solution. Married to Lucy Austin, daughter
of British philosopher J.L.Austin and founder of Middle East Nonviolence and Democracy (MEND); 4 children - sons Jamal, Absal and Buraq;
daughter, Nuzha.
Born 1949, in Shaykh
Jarrar, East Jerusalem. Lives in Abu Dis. His mother, Nuzha Ghussein came from
a landed Palestinian family, made refugees from Ramle (near Tel Aviv) by the
1948 war. Father, Anwar
Nusseibeh, was a distinguished statesman, prominent in Palestinian and
(after 1948) Palestinian-Jordanian politics and diplomacy.
Father's family were originally
wealthy landowners in Jerusalem area, with prestigious role in Jerusalem
history. (Family traces unbroken presence in Jerusalem back to at least 7th
century. Since the 12th century, when Salah al Din captured Jerusalem from the
Crusaders and returned it to Muslim rule, the Nusseibeh family held the keys as
custodians to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre). Lost their lands to the
Ottoman Turkish administration in the late nineteenth century.
Comfortable childhood
in family home on Nablus Road, opposite the American Colony Hotel, in
Jordanian-ruled Jerusalem; within blocks of the green line, which left him with
a strong awareness of the artifical division of the city, and probably explains
the emphasis on porous borders and the open-ness of Jerusalem in his later
political initiatives. Studied PPE (Politics, Philosophy & Economics) at
Christ Church, Oxford. Graduated BA, 1971.
Describes himself on graduation as sick of being a poor student, and more in search of a comfortable life than politics or confrontation. Went to live with relatives in Abu Dhabi, where he worked for the Abu Dhabi Oil Company and as a columnist the The Abu Dhabi News.
In 1974, won a scholarship to study for his doctorate at Harvard. Graduated D.Phil in Islamic Philosophy, 1978. Contemporaries remember him as inclined to scholarship rather than activism, and not apparently seized with the Palestinian issue. (Nusseibeh too describes himself as an essentially non-political person, drawn into political issues by the unavoidable daily issues that arise out of living under military occupation).
Returned to the
West Bank in 1978 to teach at Birzeit University (where he remained as
Professor of Philosophy until the University was closed for an extended period
- 1988 to 1990 - during the first intifadaa). At the same time, taught classes
in Islamic philosophy to Jewish students at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Through the early 80's, helped to organize the teachers' union at Birzeit, and
served three terms as president of the union of faculty and staff there. Also
co-founder Federation of Employees in the Education Sector for the entire West
Bank.
In June 1987, he
controversially suggested that the Palestinians should recognize Israel, and
that Israel should annex the Occupied Territories, reunify the country, and
give full citizenship to the Palestinians in a single binational state. Told a Peace
Now rally that talking openly about annexation was the only way to bring
home to Israelis the fact that they had to choose between binationalism or a
two state solution: couldn't keep both the land and the Jewish nature of
Israel. Some of his early comments on the binational
state mirror closely the kind of discussion coming into prominence today.
Approached
privately by Likud's Moshe Amirav in July 1987, with a proposal to open dialogue
between the Likud and the PLO on the West Bank. Nusseibeh and Faisal Husseini
thus became the first prominent Palestinians to meet with the Israeli right. On
21 September 1987, he was badly beaten on leaving Bir Zeit University (after
delivering a lecture on Tolerance!); presumably by elements of Fatah, angered
by his talking with the Likud. (Husseini was jailed for attending the meeting,
and Amirav expelled from the Likud).
First Intifada
Nusseibeh describes
the Palestinian experience of the first twenty years of Occupation as one of
being torn between, on the one hand, the possibility of immersion in Israeli
society (with the hope of equality in a single state), and on the other the
nationalistic hope of independence in a separate Palestine. The frustration of
twenty years under occupation with no positive move toward either end was the
spark for the first intifada. Palestinians made their own move towards a two
state solution, cutting the economic tie that bound them to Israel's economy
(through strikes and boycotts), and building grassroots political structures
(local committees) to run their own lives and lay the foundation of their own
state. Most importantly, for Nusseibeh, they did it without waiting for the
approval of the external PLO or, above all, the permission of the Israelis.
(The belief in bringing about change by directly mobilizing and organising the
people would resurface in The People's Voice Initiative of 2002).
Nusseibeh helped to
author the "inside" Palestinians' declaration of independence issued
in the first intifada, and to create the 200 political committees and 28
technical committees that were intended to as an embryonic infrastructure for a
future Palestinian administration. Nusseibeh's aim was to strengthen Fatah in
the Occupied Territories, by creating a link between the academic negotiating
class and the activists in the streets and refugee camps. However, the way it
was done (as a fait accompli, without external consultation) led to accusations
that he was making a grab for power, and alienated many of the external PLO as
well as the non-Fatah PLO internal factions.
In May 1989, he was
named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of four Palestinian
activists facing an Israeli military court. Israelis alleged he was a member of
the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising, the underground group that
coordinated the intifada, and that he was instrumental in channeling funds from
the PLO in exile to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Nusseibeh denied it,
and no charges were brought. The following month, Israelis cracked down on his Holy
Land Press Service, that was providing news of the intifada to foreign
correspondents and diplomats; closed down for two years, on the grounds that it
was alleged to be funneling money to the intifada. Nusseibeh's English language
weekly newsletter - Monday report - analyzing the events of the intifada
for an English speaking audience - was banned at the same time.
First Gulf War
Following the
firing of Scud missiles at Tel Aviv, Nusseibeh worked with Israeli Peace Now on
a common approach to condemn the killing of civilians in the war. But was
arrested and placed under administrative detention on 29 January 1991,
effectively accused of being an Iraqi agent. (Had discussed Scud attacks on Tel
Aviv with the Iraqi Ambassador at Tunis, which the Israelis alleged made him a
spotter for missile attacks). Arrest questioned by British and American
officials, and U.S. administration urged that he should either be charged or
else the suspicion would be that the arrest was political. Adopted as a
Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International. Palestinians saw the arrest as
a political warning that Israel did not intend to negotiate with any
Palestinian leader, no matter how moderate. e.g. Prof. Saeb
Erekat of An-Najah University: "This is a message to us Palestinian
moderates. The message is, 'You can forget about negotiations after the war
because we are going to make sure there is no one to talk to' ". Released
without charge shortly after the end of the war, after 90 days in Ramle Prison.
Madrid Conference
Was ineligible for
Palestinian delegation to Madrid Conference in November 1991 (as Israeli would
not recognize Jerusalem residents as Palestinians), but served as a member of
the steering committee behind the Palestinian(-Jordanian) delegation. Read Dr. Hanan
Ashrawi's impressions
of Nusseibeh, from working with him during this period.
In reference to the
Madrid Conference, Nusseibeh told a CPAP (Center for Policy Analysis on
Palestine) symposium in Washington DC that the olive branch strategy was best
way for the Palestinians to recover from the debacle of Arafat's support for
Iraq in the Gulf War, and that all forms of dialogue should be accelerated:
"One of our major concerns should be to focus on trying to influence
Israeli public opinion through joint actions, demonstrations, statements or meetings.
The Palestinians in the Occupied Territories have to demonstrate that they are
really serious and genuine about achieving peace. He said that Madrid would be
a catalyst for change, but a slow one. Told the Macneil-Lehrer News Hour:
[The idea of a Palestinian state] has been demonized in people's minds and it's
all to do with psychology. I think the more it is shown to them, how a future
Palestinian state would coexist side by side with Israel, how it is possible,
what the different bits and pieces of the Palestinian state would look like,
the more it becomes known to them, I think the less afraid they would be of
it."
Peace Initiatives
In 1991,
co-authored No Trumpets, No Drums with Mark Heller, calling for a
two-state solution with emphasis on openness between the two states. Nusseibeh
pointed out that it is much easier to fix the location of a border, if it is
going to be permeable or porous to the people on both sides.
Founded and still
directs the Palestinian Consultancy Group (Maqdes), in Ramallah; undertakes
research projects on the management of Palestinian infrastructure.
Returned to
academia in 1995, when appointed President of al-Quds University in East
Jerusalem. Though remained politically active, esp in cooperative initiatives
with the Israeli left.
Left - Signing a
Declaration of Peace with then-Meretz leader, Yossi Sarid; Jerusalem, 28
December 2001
Right - Meeting with
then-Labour Party Knesset members Yossi Beilin and Yael Dayan, at a Labour
Party symposium in Tel Aviv; 21 December 21, 2001
Appointed by Arafat
in October 2001 as PLO representative in Jerusalem (replacing the deceased
Faisal Husseini). His article, What
Next? which appeared in numerous Israeli and Palestinian newspapers on 24
Sept 2001, generated huge controversy
and debate among Palestinians, over its recommendation that Palestinians
give up the Right of Return to their 1948 homes:
"We have two
rights. We have the right of return, in my opinion. But we also have the right
to live in freedom and independence. And very often in life one has to forego
the implementation of one right in order to be able to implement the other rights.
In this case it is very clear to me that we would have to forego the
implementation of the right to return in order that we are able to create the
possibility of fulfilling our right to live in freedom. . . . It is not full
justice, but it is practical justice, this is what is possible." (Attribution)
Criticised the
militarization of the intifada in January 2002, called for the renunciation of
suicide bombings and the establishment of Palestine as a demilitarized
state: "A Palestinian state should be demilitarised - not because
that's what Israel demands, but in our own interest".
Arrested
briefly, 17 December 2001, for planning a reception for foreign diplomats
at the Imperial Hotel in Jerusalem, to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday
marking the end of Ramadan. Arrest criticised on the Israeli Left, justified by
the Likud on the grounds that the reception threatened Israel's sovereignty
over Jerusalem. Nusseibeh's university offices were closed and
sealed by the Israelis on 10 July 2002, on the grounds that they
represented PA activity in Jerusalem (same grounds were used to justify the
closure of Orient House in East Jerusalem in August 2001, in retaliation for a
Palestinian suicide attack).
Relieved of Jerusalem
PLO portfolio by Arafat, 19 December 2002.
In June 2003,
Nusseibeh co-launched
with Israeli former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon "The People's Voice", a
non-partisan civil initiative to mobilize grassroots support for a two state
solution based on:
§
a return to 1967 borders;
§
Jerusalem to be an open city;
§
Palestinian refugees have right of return only to a
(demilitarized) Palestine, Jews have right of return only to Israel.
Plan is intended to
be complementary to the political process, not to circumvent it. Currently (Dec
03) the Ayalon-Nusseibeh Plan has 200,000 supporters signed up, and has had
expressions of approval from, among others, Sec of State Powell,
Dep Def Sec Wolfowitz,
and West
Bank Fatah leaders.
The Jewish Peace
Lobby has prepared an interesting comparison of the Ayalon-Nusseibeh plan with
the Clinton Parameters, here;
and a useful summary of the various peace initiatives on offer, put together by
Ha'aretz, is online here.
A January 2004 interview,
in which Nusseibeh considers what direction Palestinian resistance to the
Occupation should take, and assesses the prospects for the "People's
Voice" initiative, is available here.
Sources:
In addition to the
sources linked in the text, this biography draws upon:
§
The New Palestinians: The Emerging Generation Of Leaders, by John Wallach
and Janet Wallach, pub 1992 by Prima publishing. ISBN 1-55958-215-4
§
Glen Rangwala's Middle
East reference
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Last Update:
27 July 2004
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