JERUSALEM — The top Palestinian official in Jerusalem has some ideas for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — though they may not be acceptable to his own people.
During the past few weeks, Sari Nusseibeh raised Palestinian ire with comments he made in a series of public appearances, as well as with statements that appeared in the Arabic- and Hebrew-language press.
He made clear that in exchange for a peace deal with Israel the Palestinians would have to give up the “right of return” for refugees who fled or were forced to leave their homes in Israel during the 1948 War of Independence.
Such a demand is a “deal breaker” that Israel would never accept, for fear of undermining the Jewish identity of the state, said Nusseibeh — recently appointed by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat as minister in charge of Jerusalem affairs to replace the late Faisal Husseini. Israelis consider the demand that some 4 million to 5 million Arab refugees and their descendants be allowed into Israel as a veiled call for the elimination of the Jewish state.
In return, Nusseibeh said, Israelis must give in to the Palestinian demand of all the land Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War: Israel would have to give up all its settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and turn over all of eastern Jerusalem.
His suggestions come as some Israelis believe the Palestinians have tired of the nearly 14-month-old al-Aksa intifada.
“They thought we would break down after a few months,” Maj. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon, the Israel Defense Force’s deputy chief of staff, said in a radio interview over the weekend. “They are frustrated that we did not break, and they are now deliberating whether the intifada has exhausted itself, and whether it is time to change direction.”
Nusseibeh is among the highest-ranking of Palestinians who have been trying to suggest a new path.
He earned a Ph.D. in Islamic philosophy from Harvard University and serves as president of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. He is the son of the late Anwar Nusseibeh, who served as minister of defense in Jordan in the early 1960s.
Like his father, Sari Nusseibeh often has expressed unorthodox views on resolving the century-old Mideast conflict. In the 1980s, he served time in Israeli jails for engaging in alleged subversive activities.
He has also has been physically attacked in the past by fellow Palestinians for expressing moderate views.
Nusseibeh’s comments about the refugees might have aroused less outrage among Palestinians a year-and-a-half ago.
It was only after the collapse of peace talks last year that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat revived the demand that the right of return be part of a final settlement with Israel.
Before that, it was implicitly understood under the Oslo accords that Palestinians would not demand to return to Israel once they had their own state.
After more than a year of violence, however, Palestinians are not inclined to hear that they too must make concessions for peace.
Just the same, Nusseibeh is optimistic his people ultimately will listen to his ideas.
“Although there is a lot of criticism of these views on the Palestinian side, this does not indicate that these views could not be acceptable” to the Palestinian people, Nusseibeh said in another interview over the weekend.
“The stalemate in the conflict is a result of the fact that there is no hope on either side,” Nusseibeh said. “But if the leadership on both sides can take this leap forward, then we can break the stalemate.”
Palestinians nonetheless took to the streets in Gaza last week to protest Nusseibeh’s views. Others signed a petition challenging his authority to cede the right of return.
Jibril Rajoub, head of Palestinian security in the West Bank and a moderate in the eyes of some Israelis said it was the timing of Nusseibeh’s comments “which is problematic, not their substance.”
But Ahmad Abdul Rahman, a Palestinian Cabinet minister, said Nusseibeh had expressed a “personal opinion” and not the official stance of the Palestinian Authority.