New York Times melder:
Israel Shuts Down Office of Leading Palestinian Moderate
By JOHN KIFNER
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/09/international/09CND-MIDE.html
ERUSALEM, July 9 Israel today shut down the office here of Sari Nusseibeh, the
leading voice of moderation among Palestinians, accusing him of undermining
Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem by serving as an agent of Yasir Arafat's
Palestinian Authority.
Dr. Nusseibeh, scion of one this city's princely Arab families, a tweedy,
Oxford- and Harvard-educated intellectual, has been a driving force among
Palestinians who have signed a statement urging their compatriots to abandon
suicide bombings against Israeli civilians as counterproductive. He has publicly
said Palestinians must abandon their claim to a right of return to Palestinian
lands.
Dr. Nusseibeh's stands have drawn death threats from other Palestinians, and the
Palestinian Authority has had to provide him with guards.
A little after 9 o'clock this morning, the Israeli police converged on Al Quds
University, where Dr. Nusseibeh is the president. They ordered the staff
outside, carted out boxes of computer disks and files and changed the locks,
staff members said. Their warrant, written in Hebrew, said the office was
operating in violation of the Oslo accords, though the Israeli Army has
virtually obliterated the accords in recent weeks by reoccupying seven West Bank
cities that were under Palestinian control.
"Sari Nusseibeh's amiability," said Uzi Landau, the minister of public security,
who ordered the seizure, "should not mislead us into thinking that he can't be
used, like the Trojan horse, to steal in and undermine Israeli sovereignty in
Jerusalem."
Mr. Landau, a hardline Likud member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet,
added, "A civil representative of the Palestinian Authority was operating from
the heart of Jerusalem with the aim of putting our sovereignty in question." Al
Quds University is in mostly Arab East Jerusalem.
Hours later and a few blocks away, just outside the limestone walls of the Old
City, a Palestinian drew a gun and shot and wounded a police officer who tried
to search him. In the ensuing gun battle, a 70-year-old Palestinian passer-by
was shot to death, though it was not immediately clear whether he was shot by
the police or the gunman, who was arrested.
Abed Ajaj, a son-in-law of the dead passer-by, Mahmoud Bashir, 70, said Mr.
Bashir had at least 70 grandchildren, and had been on his way to pray at Al Aksa
mosque when he has killed.
"You just can't believe in one second the head of the family is gone," Mr. Ajaj
said as relatives and friends began to gather for mourning. "All we have here is
promises, promises. Twelve years, nothing changes."
With tensions running high, with Israeli forces enforcing curfews on most West
Bank cities and with the government warning of possible suicide attacks, Israeli
peace activists and Palestinians criticized the move against Dr. Nusseibeh.
"As far as our goverment is concerned, nothing surprises me too much," said
Yossi Sarid, the leader of the dwindling peace camp in the Knesset. "It's very
unfortunate, very stupid. The government is talking all the time about another
leadership. Sari Nusseibeh is known to be a very moderate Palestinian, he is
very courageous to express his views sometimes, and I don't think he deserved
such an attitude. We are not too successful with our respective leadership."
Nabil Aburdeineh, a close adviser to Mr. Arafat, said: "This is a clear
violation of the signed agreements. It has nothing to do with security; it has
everything to do with damaging any sign of cooperation in the future. What kind
of future can they be planning?"
The future of East Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive points of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians demand that the city or, symbolically,
its largely Arab eastern sector become their capital; the Israelis claim the
"undivided city" that they gained after the 1967 war, when Israel located
courts, police headquarters and new Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to
reinforce its claim.
Mr. Landau and Dr. Nusseibeh have tangled before. In December, Mr. Landau
ordered Dr. Nusseibeh detained for an hour and questioned after he attempted to
have a reception for diplomats and other local figures to break the Ramadan fast
over juice and cookies. The Israelis also shut down Orient House, the
headquarters of the previous Palestinian representative in East Jerusalem,
Faisel Husseini, who is also the descendent of a noble Arab family.
As the political jockeying continued, Islamic Jihad said that one of their
operatives, Muammar Daraaghemi, was slain today as he went out on a suicide
mission near Jenin, on the West Bank. The Israeli Army said it was
investigating.
Mathias
zoo ma mah manut mamoyugh
xi maa hea doo dauy dohdoyugh
tszeettaa ba doa bau koyugh
- Mr. Bungle
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