Posted on 11/11/2001 7:50:04 PM PST by Alouette
Nusseibeh: Jews have bond with Jerusalem
By Etgar Lefkovits
JERUSALEM (November 12) - The Jewish people has an "existential connection" to Jerusalem that must be recognized and respected, the Palestinian Authority's newly appointed representative in Jerusalem, Al Quds University President Sari Nusseibeh, said yesterday.
"I would be blind to disclaim the Jewish connection to Jerusalem," the 52-year-old philosophy professor asserted in an Israel Radio interview.
"The existential connection Jews have to Jerusalem needs to be recognized and respected, just as the Islamic and Arab connection to Jerusalem must be," he said.
His remarks came just weeks after Nusseibeh stated in several media interviews the Palestinians erred during the Camp David talks in insisting on the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees.
At the time, his remarks were condemned by Palestinian hard-liners and refugee camp residents, who demanded PA Chairman Yasser Arafat immediately fire him.
Arafat brushed aside the demand.
Nusseibeh's remarks are in direct contradiction to Arafat's dismissal of the historic existence of the Jewish Temples on the Temple Mount.
Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert called Nusseibeh "a serious and exciting interlocutor." A statement from the mayor's office said that, while the two have met, no meeting has been scheduled since Nusseibeh was appointed successor to the late Faisal Husseini in September.
Nusseibeh's father, Anwar, was a Jordanian defense minister, and his respected Jerusalem family holds the post of the "keeper of the door" at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a post given to a Muslim family to avoid arguments among various Christian sects.
Last month, in an address at the Hebrew University, Nusseibeh declared that Israelis and Palestinians are farther apart now than at any time in the past two decades and that everything points to the situation getting worse.
"Rationally speaking, when you look at what has happened, it is difficult to see any hope. You cannot but be extremely pessimistic," he said.
Nusseibeh said that both sides must recognize what he called "the mess and dangers" of the situation.
Stating that "[Osama] bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, and the Islamic world are not the allies of the Palestinians, just as Europe and the US are not your allies," Nusseibeh said: "It is up to us as enemies to make a future as friends and allies."
Nusseibeh was beaten up by Palestinian militants after delivering a lecture on tolerance in 1986, while in 1991 he was jailed for three months by Israel on suspicion that he was spying for Iraq.
In 1993, after the signing of the Oslo Accords, which he avidly supported, Nusseibeh stepped out of the political limelight and chose the quiet seclusion of an academic life.
There is a typo here. They left out the word "at" between "fire" and "him."
I'm not gonna hold my breath....
The Christian people have a "deeded connection" to Jerusalem . . .
Complicated.
Ja think?
And a Jew too.
Do you have the lyrics to, "They sure ain't makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore"?
Phil V. it ain't nice to pigeon-hole Jesus nor Jews.
I think his group was called "Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew-Boys".
Which, by the way, all Christians know very well.
He must be an honest man to have both sides so pissed off at him.
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