Discours du Professeur dr. Sari Nusseibeh (EN)

It goes without saying that I am deeply honored, and touched by this gesture of acknowledgement from two great sister institutions, today acting as one. In a sense, this united effort is itself a statement of what this honorary degree is all about, namely, a harmonious coming-together of mutually-enriching differences.

I must confess that I had to overcome a major foreboding about receiving this honor at this time in the history of my people. How can I confront myself appreciating its significance when, at this hour, it has scarcely been a week since my devastated compatriots in occupied Gaza have started to grope their way from underneath the rubble and ashes of their destroyed dwellings and institutions, seeking to make sense of a new world, a world no longer home to their loved ones, their children, mothers, sisters, fathers or brothers, whose vibrant lives suddenly vanished from the face of the earth, in one bloody fell sweep? What meaning, what value is there to honor, against such a bloodied landscape? I therefore beg your forgiveness for having charted a middle course –of staying physically away from this event, while at the same time registering my deep-felt appreciation for the honor being bestowed, be it through this digital medium.

Need I dwell on my peoples' tragedy, our misery, our suffering? I think not, for I believe that, especially in this country, and in this university, in these two universities, more than anywhere else, awareness of and sympathy for the unfortunate vicissitudes in my region of the world is manifest, and has already been confirmed in countless ways, including in the conferral of this honoris causa doctorate on such great figures as Mahmoud Darwish, Elias Shoufani, Amin Ma'louf and Taher Jalloun. Indeed, as I was aptly reminded by his brother, the UCL long ago hosted our beloved and martyred Naim Khader, a forerunner of the struggle for Palestinian, and human rights. Did not this patriot pay with his life for his belief in human brotherhood?

And yet, sad to say, we see European officialdom –not, pointedly, that representing this country, your country - rather than reflecting this deeper moral sympathy with the victim, turning up in Jerusalem after the bloody flagellation of Gaza to pat Olmert on the back. What is wrong with Europe's Governments, I am compelled to ask? Can the life of an Israeli, as sanctified as it may be, really be considered more valuable than the lives of Palestinians? Are these Governments sending the message that the killing of women and children is justified, and that the perpetrators should be condoned by being patted on the back, and hugged before the cameras for the world to see- even as the bodies of our children were still being pulled out from beneath the blasted rubble? And is it possible that these Governements, these Government leaders believe their consciences, on the other hand, can be cleansed if needed simply by offering dollars in compensation for the slain body? How much more suffering, what more blood need be shed, what more injustice need be inflicted, before the arm of justice can be brought to bear, before the international community can finally step in to end this human deformity, and bring about an equitable solution, allowing Palestinians to live in security, and Israelis to live in peace?

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Let there be no mistake about this: the Israeli Army's onslaught against the lock, stock and barrel of what constitutes Gaza is the worst kind of premeditated, cold-blooded, State-inflicted act of terrorism which can be imagined in a world with a pretense to civilization and to human values. Not -I hasten to add- that this in any way renders kassam rocket attacks against Israeli civilians either justifiable or tenable. But such has been the disproportional response to these rockets that the resulting tragedy has become defined as a watershed in the history of the region. The nakbah of 1947-48 may be the closest parallel, at the time portending the collapse of entire political regimes, monarchies and social orders included. The present and near-future will be no exception. After Gaza will be a different world from that of Before Gaza. And what cannot stand up by itself cannot be propped up for long by any amount of a US-led effort of dollar infusion or of beefed-up security. Regimes and political orders will collapse, psychological profiles will metamorphose, the common road-sign for all these pattern-changes being radicalization. In Israel-Palestine, the emerging bi-national reality will be the best paradigm of the worst form of a religious discriminatory order. [Its discriminatory nature will be far worse than that of the worst forms of apartheid, if only because the latter is based on natural color or race differences, while the former feeds on debasing the divine, appealing to God for the perpetration of injustice.]

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I believe in political miracles, or that we, as miracle-makers, can plot out a better world for ourselves. Foreseeing the worst of possible worlds can be an incentive for us to create the best of those worlds. In this case, we can all pull our resources together. What is needed, most urgently, is not humanitarian aid, or grand plans for rebuilding Gaza or the PA's security apparatus, whether to defend the PA itself or Israel's security, but a political and infrastructural solution. We should all therefore concentrate all of our efforts on ending the occupation, whether Israel likes it or not, thus allowing for the emergence of a small but free Palestine, whether the Palestinians like it or not!

One way of doing this is to join forces in order to sound a wake-up call. Patiently awaiting a positive outcome of negotiations I as University President have resisted in the recent past all calls for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions and individuals. Today I believe the circumstances have changed, and I would like to extend an invitation to all civil society institutions, in Palestine or abroad, to place a six-month moratorium on all new "routine" or normal cooperative activities with Israeli institutions or individuals -not, I must add, as a punitive measure, but as a rallying cry for all concerned to pressure the Israeli Government into committing itself to a timetable for ending the occupation in return for a full peace treaty with its Palestinian neighbour.

Ideally, of course, international Governments should also be involved in this effort, thus extending the reach of this boycott, and the gravity of the purpose behind it, to include trade and diplomatic ties. Europe's peace efforts would be far more effective if, instead of providing Palestinians with financial aid, it ceased to provide Israel with a preferential trade status, conditioned on ending the occupation. But even in the absence of Government involvement, international civil society is capable of rallying the pressure needed on companies engaged in trade relations with Israel, making Israelis from all walks of life realize that an end must be put to the sixty-year old tragedy of the Palestinian people.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I wish once again to register my gratitude for the recognition being bestowed on me at this event. It is a source of great pride and honor, which I shall forever cherish. But being by accident of birth a part-political activist, I beg your forgiveness for presenting you here with a political prescription instead of with a philosophical perspective on human nature. But as someone far more accomplished once said, our duty as philosophers is to change the world, not rest content with describing it. My message to you here is that we are all capable of making the world a better place. As Hanna Arendt has observed, we as human beings are all instances of miraculous creations; but we are all equally capable of making miracles ourselves. Let us all work actively to make the miracle of peace happen, to make it come about!

Thank you