After decades of witnessing every turn of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, from inspiring moments and hopeful negotiations to periods of violent upheavals, Palestinian intellectual and philosopher Sari Nusseibeh has seen it all.
Sometimes involved in political initiatives, other times observing from the sidelines, Nusseibeh, 77, told The Jerusalem Report in a recent interview that today’s situation is darker than ever.
Viewed by some as an eternal optimist and a peacemaker with impossibly big dreams, he pointed out that heightened hostility and record levels of bad feelings now shape relations between Israelis and Palestinians.
“The reality now after October 7 is far worse with regard to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians,” Nusseibeh said, explaining that while the fundamental issues dividing the two sides have not changed too much, the gap now runs much deeper.
“If before we thought about the possibility of peace between the two sides, today it is harder to envision how it could be achieved,” he continued, adding that in the past “you could imagine it; today it has become much more difficult to do so.”
Nusseibeh said animosity among Palestinians toward Israelis has been growing, and today it is difficult to assess where the Palestinian cause is headed.
On the Israeli side, he noted, the October 7 Hamas-led attack and the ensuing war in Gaza have created a reluctance among Jews not only to engage with Palestinians, but to show any interest or any positive thought toward them.
No trust
Looking at the unfolding dynamics more broadly, Nusseibeh said it is inaccurate to speak of a lack of trust between the two sides, since “trust simply does not exist.”
Yet, he said he has not lost faith in peace.
“I believe that, at some point, bridges will gradually reopen between the two peoples.... I believe in the goodness of human nature,” emphasized the Palestinian intellectual and statesman. “Our obligation as human beings, both Israelis and Palestinians, is not to lose hope entirely.
“On the contrary,” he continued. “We must always look for ways to move forward. What encourages me is that we’ve been there before; we had negotiations, discussions, and dialogue. The two sides talked to each other. So, there is no reason why it can’t happen again.”
Nusseibeh, a professor of philosophy who served as president of Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, for a decade until 2014, is best known in Israeli society for his partnership with former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Ami Ayalon on the 2003 peace initiative, The People’s Voice.
The collaboration sought to gather civilian signatures for a document of principles supporting a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines, with compromises on the right of return for Palestinians, and envisioned Jerusalem as the capital of both states. Regarded as a moderate, Nusseibeh advocated for a demilitarized Palestinian state.
A Palestinian future
Nusseibeh did not always align himself with advocates of the two-state camp. His vision evolved and changed over time.
In the 1970s, while studying for a PhD at Harvard University, and later, after he began teaching at Bir Zeit University, he, like most of his peers, believed in a one-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
“I didn’t have a political leaning back then... I even called for an Israeli annexation of the West Bank, with Palestinians having civil, not political rights,” he recalled.
Later, sometime in the mid-1980s, just before the First Intifada in 1987, Nusseibeh said the vibe in Palestinian society and the political arena started to change, and he began to see the benefits of a two-state solution.
He taught at Bir Zeit University, and among his students was Marwan Barghouti, now one of the most iconic Palestinian political leaders.
Barghouti, who would later become a prominent figure in the Fatah party, was convicted of five counts of murder, for which he received five cumulative life sentences, for his role in killing Israelis during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.
Today, Nusseibeh’s position is more vague. After imagining the possibility of a third way, one that would allow Palestinian civil rights similar to a one-state option, he is now not sure what the solution might be. But he does believe that Israelis and Palestinians must learn from past mistakes and not give up on finding a shared dialogue.
He pointed out that the Palestinian political leadership is in flux. The imprisoned Barghouti is counted as among the most popular leaders; a recent poll published by The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah found that if presidential elections were held today, he would receive some 54% of the vote. Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) trailed him with only 26% and 14%, respectively.
Nusseibeh explained this simply: While Abbas is a “dove for peace... Palestinians see he has not got them anywhere and are not convinced about his leadership.”
“I think that Abbas has failed in the matter of functioning and administration,” he said, adding there are also accusations of corruption.
He continued that people feel “Abbas is in a position where he can’t do anything. He’s at the top of the pyramid but still can’t change anything. Settlers attack Palestinians in their villages, the Israeli military raids Palestinian cities, and he is helpless.”
Nusseibeh said that after three years of war in Gaza, Hamas is also in crisis.
“After October 7, many Palestinians were initially enthusiastic about what Hamas had done, an act that once seemed unimaginable. But over time, a large portion have come to see it as a disaster for the Palestinian people alongside the worsening humanitarian conditions,” he said.
With Palestinians unhappy with both Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah movement, Nusseibeh said there is hope for change.
“The Israeli leadership is also at a dead end.... I believe this paves the way for the need to reassess everything through discourse and open thinking, and this is part of the change needed inside the two societies,” he theorized.
People are the key
Nusseibeh said he believes that change will not come from the governments of the two peoples.
“The people, not the political leadership, are the key,” he said. “On both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides, you see that you can’t separate the leadership from society; the leadership is part of the society and reflects it. So it’s only when people start healing from their pain, and when space opens for bottom-up voices from the public to rise, that change may begin to emerge.”
And he continued: Israelis and Palestinians need to see the situation from the other’s perspective.
“If there’s one thing Palestinians need to understand about Israelis, it’s the reasons that drove the actions of the Zionist movement and its justifications for establishing the State of Israel, and why the Jews are here,” said Nusseibeh. “You don’t have to agree with that, but at least to understand it.”
As for the Israelis, “they should understand what causes Palestinians to behave the way they do.”
Without this effort, he concluded, there is no way to move forward.■