One on One with Sari Nusseibeh: Once upon a conflict

Jerusalem Post a publicat in urma cu doua zile un interviu interesant cu profesorul palestinian Sari Nuseiba. Nuseiba nu se sfieste sa-si critice confratzii si sa stabileasca ca existentza statului Israel nu este o problema pentru Palestinieni.

Nu trebuie insa uitata figura altui darling al stangii israeliene, Faysal Al Husseini care si el spunea lucruri care gadilau urechea israeliana. Pana cand a fost imprimat (pe ascuns) spunand ca acordul de la Oslo a fost un cal troian oferit israelienilor si ca scopul este un stat palestinian intre iordan si marea Mediterana (adica fara Israel). Interviul cu Al Husseini aici.

Deci fiecare sa interpreteze cum crede "mierea" cuvintelor care curg de la Nuseiba. Daca eu as fi luat interviul, l-as fi intrebat un pic despre interviul lui Al Husseini si de ce ar trebui sa-l credem pe el, dupa ce am vazut perfidia lui Al Husseini in toata splendoarea ei.

by Ruthie Blum, THE JERUSALEM POST , 26 April 2007

During the 15-minute drive between west Jerusalem and Al-Quds University in Beit Hanina, the landscape changes so dramatically that the distance between the two points feels as great as the cultural chasm that separates them.

It is a divide that philosophy professor and president Sari Nusseibeh has been acclaimed, mainly by Jewish peaceniks, for trying to bridge. Indeed, the 58-year-old Damascus-born son of wealthy and politically influential Muslims from pre-state Palestine is well-known among Israelis for his having joined forces with former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head and current Labor Party leadership candidate Ami Ayalon to establish "The People's Voice" - a civil initiative aiming to advance Palestinian-Israeli coexistence.

From today's vantage point, with civil war raging - and anarchy reigning - in Gaza, this goal might sound as far-fetched as the flock of sheep grazing on the grass of the Al-Quds campus, oblivious to the students passing by on the way to their classes.

And Nusseibeh's faith in finding a solution which "is totally acceptable and beneficial to us both" might seem like a pipe dream, at best. Particularly when one considers that the Oxford- and Harvard-educated intellectual-turned-activist was a close adviser to Yasser Arafat and served as the PLO's chief representative in Jerusalem in 2001-2.

Still, he insists in articulate, Arabic-lilted English, "What Arafat did - sign the Oslo Accords - was historic... The fact that he was able ideologically to bring everybody behind him to be prepared to make peace with Israel was very, very important."

Is this a case a of wishful thinking on the part of a self-described lover of myths and fairy tales, or the result of the hope and faith instilled in him by his father, who used to tell him that "rubble often makes the best building material"?

Nusseibeh addresses these and other related questions in his recently released autobiography, Once upon a Country: a Palestinian Life (written with Anthony David; Farrar, Strauss and Giroux publishers; New York).

In an hour-long interview to discuss the book and the ideas that shaped it, Nusseibeh is as congenial as his attire is casual. Dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, he looks more like an American graduate student than an Arab educator who presides over a 5,000-plus student body. The only giveaway to his roots is the string of worry beads he removes from the pocket of his jeans and fondles throughout our conversation. Whether this is a function of ill ease at being forced to spell out subtle positions in too short a time, or due to his having quit smoking, is not clear. Perhaps it is some combination of the two.

Or maybe my inability to assess his actions is a minor example of precisely what Nusseibeh sees as the source of the Palestinian-Israel conflict: mistaken interpretations.

Interviul aici.