Sari Nusseibeh | |
(Updated Below)
As Anti-Racist Blog brought to my attention, the indispensable Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has translated the tape of an interview in which the president of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, Sari Nusseibeh, makes anti-Semitic remarks during a rant against the presence of Jews in any future Palestinian state. (See them, indented, below.)
Key to the interest of Campus Watch in this case is that Al-Quds has partnered with several American and Canadian universities to offer programs, classes, and research opportunities. The schools involved include the University of Michigan at Dearborn, Northeastern University, York University in Ontario, Brandeis, and George Washington University. Al-Quds also receives U.S. government support.
This afternoon, I sent the email below to the heads of each of these schools. If they reply, we’ll make their remarks available; they may choose to speak through the media. Most important is that they not stand for such blatant anti-Semitism from the head of an institution that is supported by the schools they lead.
Dear President X,
I am the director of Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has released the translation of a November 30, 2007 interview in Arabic of the president of Al-Quds University, Sari Nusseibeh.
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1630.htm
In this interview, President Nusseibeh states:
The Israelis now living in the territories of the future Palestinian state should return to living within the borders of the state of Israel. No Jew in the world, now or in the future, as a result of this document, will have the right to return, to live, or to demand to live in Hebron, in East Jerusalem, or anywhere in the Palestinian state.
Thank you very much,
Winfield Myers
Director
Campus Watch
Update: James R. Russell, Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard, sends the following comment for posting:
I, James Russell, Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University, have read the statement by Sari Nusseibeh in his official capacity as President of Al Quds University: “No Jew in the world, now or in the future... will have the right... to live... in East Jerusalem” and so on. In response I declare that I refuse to teach or collaborate in any way professionally with any person having any connection whatsoever to Al Quds University, which must be regarded as an anti-Semitic and racialist entity. Furthermore I will oppose by every possible means, including prosecution under the laws of the United States, any association or cooperation of Harvard University with Al Quds. I urge all scholars and teachers of good will to join me.
