'The
single most dangerous enemy of Israel", "The most dangerous
Palestinian alive", "The pretty face of terrorism", are
some of the epithets fired at Dr Sari Nusseibeh, the Palestinian peace
activist, by Israeli politicians. These defamations give credence to the
adage that "Israeli authorities fear men of peace more than they fear
terrorists". This autobiography-cum-memoir, co-authored with Anthony
David, should put matters right, particularly for that majority of Israeli
and diaspora Jews who either maintain silence or choose to swallow the
deceit disseminated by Israeli governments that creating settlements on
Palestinian land is to ensure security for the Jewish state and not part
of an expansionist policy.
Yet Nusseibeh, a prominent intellectual and philosopher, believes it could
be. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Ehud Olmert, Israel's
prime minister, should, he argues, launch a new peace process at the
forthcoming Annapolis conference - and then campaign among their
respective electorates for a mandate to negotiate a final peace
settlement.
Equally, it should enlighten organisations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and some
Arab governments, that Nusseibeh's uncompromising platform whereby
"Palestinians and Israelis share common interests in a two-state
solution and as such are more allies than enemies" is the only
solution to the conflict; and that, for its achievement, they must reject
fanaticism and embrace, in the tradition of early Islamic thinking, love
for all humankind.
Nusseibeh's long and often dangerous undertaking to build bridges of
understanding between Israelis and Palestinians, as opposed to walls of
separation, can be summed up thus: "Our fight is not to cause pain to
others, but to deliver ourselves from pain. It is not to destroy another
state, but to create our own. It is not to bring death to others, but to
give life and hope to ourselves and to our children."
A scion of Palestinian aristocracy, whose ancestry goes back to the
Nusaybah tribe that pledged allegiance to the Prophet Mohammed, Nusseibeh
has a vision of a Holy Land where it would be possible for Arabs, Jews and
Christians to live in harmony. Returning from studies in Oxford and
Harvard to teach at Birzeit University, after the creation of Israel, he
nurtured the dream of a single state for Arabs and Jews.
Much as he resisted following in his father's footsteps – a politician
of rare integrity – he was soon enmeshed in politics. He played a major
role in disputing the Palestinian demand for Israel's annihilation while
pursuing the rights of his people. In time, he championed the need for two
separate states. When asked to resurrect Al-Quds University – the only
Arab university in Jerusalem – he transformed the Hamas-dominated
student body, and made it a centre of philosophy, rationalism and the
humanities.
Nusseibeh's conviction that enlightenment is dependent on knowledge made
him a unique activist. Imbued with Western philosophy, he went on to
immerse himself in the philosophies of Islam's golden age. Al-Farabi
taught him that every individual must do his best to humanise an
"imperfect society". Ibn Sina (Avicenna) inspired him to
conceive that human will can conjoin inner and outer worlds. Abd el-Jabbar
Ibn Ahmad impressed on him that human beings have free will and that,
therefore, they are responsible for their actions. Ibn Rushd (Averroes),
the "father of secular thought", advocating the imperative of
separating the state from religious doctrines, confirmed that the region's
political divisions were rooted in the "religious imagination"
of both communities. That, consequently, was the first challenge.
Perhaps Nusseibeh's most important insight is his realisation that since
many politicians, on both sides, have been corrupt and self-serving, peace
can only be achieved by mobilising grassroots Palestinians and Israelis.
This strategy, reflecting their own patriotic concerns, did not go
unheeded by the Israeli moderates. One sane politician, Ami Ayalon, the
former Israeli navy and secret service chief, has now joined forces with
Nusseibeh. Together they have founded the initiative known as "The
People's Voice" and formulated a "Destination Map" which,
requiring serious compromises from both sides, offers the strongest
possibility of a lasting peace.
Nusseibeh's autobiography is, perhaps, the most important to emerge from
the Middle East for decades. And its publication now is propitious. The
recent Annapolis meeting has declared that the Israel-Palestine conflict
will be resolved by December 2008. But few, if any, Israelis or
Palestinians can conceive that this long-awaited resolution will
materialise. They suspect that, as ever, the politicians on both sides
will renege with time-worn arguments. This autobiography, with its
presentation of the "Destination Map", carries the passion that
might embolden ordinary Israelis and Palestinians to bypass the
politicians and establish the peace that all but the armoured men
desperately want.
Moris Farhi
