http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/899/what-is-a-sari-nusseibeh-for
Azmi Bishara famously made a discourse of equal citizenship (“a state of all its citizens”) into a uniquely terrifying answer to the question of Palestine for Israelis – the reason he now, hounded out of Israel, plies his trade on Al-Jazeera as, happily, perhaps the Arab world’s foremost public intellectual. Nusseibeh’s latest answer to the same question is neo-colonial subjecthood. His autobiography is full of protestations: ‘I am speaking tongue-in-cheek. Palestinians should only be playing games they can win.’ By now his tongue has drilled through his cheek to French-kiss Friedman’s moustache. They may deserve each other.
" It is no surprise that the only tangible precedent for such a status that Nusseibeh can invoke here – the storied, nakedly colonial others being none too convenient – is a previous Israeli invention: the “permanent resident” status bestowed upon Palestinians in annexed East Jerusalem, who, recent experience suggests, persist in getting on little better today than their fellow Palestinians
Let’s repeat: self-determination is like smoking. You may like it; but if it proves bad for you, you shouldn’t inhale. Self-determination kills. Self-determination is addictive: don’t start. Quitting self-determination now may greatly reduce risks to your health. Self-determination causes fatal lung cancer. (That much is surely true, inasmuch as being deprived of self-determination sure makes you smoke: ask Gazans. And once you have fatal lung cancer, good luck getting Israel to let you out to treat it.) Get help to stop self-determination! Consult your (quack-) doctor, Sari Nusseibeh.
