Silencing a Palestinian Moderate
Why would Israel shut down the office of the leading Palestinian moderate? Many asked that question when Israeli police acted this week against Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al Quds University and the Palestine Liberation Organization's designated representative in Jerusalem. They carted off his files and changed the lock on the door.

Mr. Nusseibeh has been a voice for peace over many years. In 1988, before a two-state solution was policy on either side, he told me that Palestinians should say to Israel: "We don't want to destroy your state, but we want our own state alongside." Last fall he said Palestinians should give up their claim of a right to return to homes in Israel.

In short, he is the perfect example of the new kind of leadership, peaceful and pragmatic, that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel and President Bush have said the Palestinians must have before there can be political negotiations on an end to the conflict. Why target him?

The answer is that important elements in the Israeli government do not want a real two-state solution and do not want political negotiations with a reformed Palestinian leadership. They prefer the present situation: the West Bank occupied or tightly controlled by Israel, with an increasing number of Jewish settlers. The last thing they want is a respected Palestinian interlocutor.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/13/opinion/13LEWI.html