The arrest of Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, a leading Palestinian nationalist and one of the most prominent Arab public figures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, has taken the diplomatic community here by surprise.
But the Israeli authorities may feel confident there will be no repercussions from Washington, considering the new closeness that has developed between the United States and Israel since the Persian Gulf war began.
Nusseibeh, 41, was arrested Tuesday night and placed under administrative detention by order of Defense Minister Moshe Arens. He may be held in custody for up to six months without being charged or brought to trial.
A communique issued by the Defense Ministry claimed Nusseibeh had been supplying the Iraqis with intelligence as to the exact location where Scud missiles fired at Israel landed.
The Israeli military maintains that such information could be of immense value to the Iraqis, who target the Scud launchers.
But the authorities did not expand further on the substance of the allegations against Nusseibeh, citing security reasons. Security was also their explanation for not pressing charges against him in court.
Nusseibeh has the legal right to appeal his detention to the High Court of Justice. But past experience has shown that Israeli jurists rarely intervene against the military’s use of administrative detention, a punitive measure retained from the emergency regulations in effect during the final years of the British Mandate in Palestine.
Nusseibeh is a lecturer in philosophy at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, which has been closed since the intifada began more than three years ago. Educated at Oxford, he is the son of a former Jordanian defense minister.
HELD TALKS WITH LIKUD POLITICIANS
Observers consider him a leading ideologue of the Palestinian national movement in the administered territories, but not an organizer of active operations.
His role made possible his meetings with Likud activists before the intifada in an effort to reach a common ground with Israeli decision-makers. He was known to believe that the Palestinians could achieve more from the right-wing Likud than in alliance with the Israeli left.
The talks failed, however, because the Likud mainstream balked when the discussions became public knowledge and because of pressures exerted by Palestinian extremists.
Nusseibeh was beaten up at Bir Zeit, apparently to punish him for talking to the Israelis.
The Likud people involved included Ehud Olmert, now minister of health, and Moshe Amirav, now a Jerusalem city councilman of the Center-Shinui Movement.
Nusseibeh proposed, among other things, that Palestinians living in East Jerusalem should vote in the Jerusalem municipal elections in order to exercise greater political influence. East Jerusalem Palestinians are eligible to vote, but most boycott the elections.
Nusseibeh also argued that if the Palestinians were to take Israeli citizenship they could soon wield major influence in the Knesset.
His arrest took the political community by surprise because it was commonly believed that men like Nusseibeh would not be touched by Israeli authorities because of their prestige abroad.
Visiting American and European politicians and diplomats have long made it a point to contact one or both men to hear the Palestinian side of the dispute with Israel.
Right-wing Israeli politicians, who have long urged Nusseibeh’s arrest and deportation, were clearly pleased by the defense minister’s move.
They have long claimed Nusseibeh is the paymaster of the Palestine Liberation Organization, who distributes funds to intifada activists and writes the leaflets for the intifada’s so-called Unified Command.
Dovish politicians, on the other hand, said his arrest was intended to cow the Palestinians.
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