Al-Quds University

At Ropes, we share a holistic vision for our region, one where every individual has far more to gain from regional integration and conflict resolution than they have to lose.

For more information on our work, please visit our website, ropes.org. And joining us today is Professor Sari Nusseibeh, a Palestinian professor of philosophy and former president of the Al-Quds University in Jerusalem.

Until December 2002, he was a representative of the Palestinian National Authority in Jerusalem.

In 2002, Sari Nusseibeh and former Shin Bet director, Ami Ayalon, published The People's Voice, the Israeli-Palestinian civil initiative that aims to advance the process of achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and a draft peace agreement that called for a Palestinian state based on Israel's '67 borders and for a compromise on the Palestinian right of return.

Yeah.

Um, so you know, Professor Nusseibeh, when I was reading your bio right now, and, uh, actually when I was writing it before the show, I was thinking well, you know, I, as a young reporter, I, uh, I, I, uh, reported about the initiative, uh, that you both worked on.

I also interviewed you back in 2003, uh, on the initiative and also on the, uh, separation barrier that was constructed back then in Jerusalem, and it was supposed to pass through the Al-Quds University, and you were working together with your colleagues from Hebrew University, uh, to stop this from happening.

And you know, uh, we were in the midst of very violent, uh, events of the Second Intifada and, uh, Israeli incursions in the West Bank, and still nevertheless, uh, there was this kind of hope that things are possible.