Yasser Arafat has chosen Sari Nuseiba to succeed the late Feisal Husseini as the Palestinian Authority\'s top man in Jerusalem. Veteran Ma\'ariv correspondent Shalom Yerushalmi talked about his acquaintance Nuseiba with Arutz-7:
\"Nuseiba is very controversial in his circles, because he says that the PA should drop its demand for the \'right of return\' [of the Arab refugees from 1948]. His point is that this demand is not only not getting anywhere and meeting only brick walls, but is also blocking the Palestinians in making other achievements. He was in real physical danger because of this - he was assaulted and almost killed once in Bir Zeit University for saying things like that - and he therefore last week released a clarification explaining that he is not giving up on the \'right of return,\' but feels only that it should be put off for now because it\'s holding up other things...
\"He is the son of Anwar Nusseiba, who was Defense Minister in Jordan and who had many Israeli friends. Sari is very involved in Israeli life; he actually volunteered in Kibbutz HaZore\'a after the Six-Day War - not because he was a great Zionist, but out of a sense of adventure and to get to know the Israelis... He also participated on the Israeli archaeological team that dug out the Western Wall, and taught Moslem philosophy at Hebrew University... He is a Christian, and is probably willing to compromise on religious issues such as the Temple Mount.\"
Nuseiba met this week with the Belgian Foreign Minister at the American Colony Hotel, only 50 meters away from Orient House - the former PA Jerusalem headquarters that Israel closed three months ago, for the very purpose of preventing such meetings and other PA activities. The Belgian told Nuseiba that his country would send the PA $25 million.
\"Nuseiba is very controversial in his circles, because he says that the PA should drop its demand for the \'right of return\' [of the Arab refugees from 1948]. His point is that this demand is not only not getting anywhere and meeting only brick walls, but is also blocking the Palestinians in making other achievements. He was in real physical danger because of this - he was assaulted and almost killed once in Bir Zeit University for saying things like that - and he therefore last week released a clarification explaining that he is not giving up on the \'right of return,\' but feels only that it should be put off for now because it\'s holding up other things...
\"He is the son of Anwar Nusseiba, who was Defense Minister in Jordan and who had many Israeli friends. Sari is very involved in Israeli life; he actually volunteered in Kibbutz HaZore\'a after the Six-Day War - not because he was a great Zionist, but out of a sense of adventure and to get to know the Israelis... He also participated on the Israeli archaeological team that dug out the Western Wall, and taught Moslem philosophy at Hebrew University... He is a Christian, and is probably willing to compromise on religious issues such as the Temple Mount.\"
Nuseiba met this week with the Belgian Foreign Minister at the American Colony Hotel, only 50 meters away from Orient House - the former PA Jerusalem headquarters that Israel closed three months ago, for the very purpose of preventing such meetings and other PA activities. The Belgian told Nuseiba that his country would send the PA $25 million.