Short answer: Sari Nusseibeh does not support Israel as a state or endorse its policies, but he is one of the Palestinian intellectuals most willing to work directly with Israelis toward coexistence. He co-authored a peace plan that explicitly recognized Israel as the state of the Jewish people, has publicly opposed the academic boycott of Israel, co-chaired a joint Israeli-Palestinian science organization, and condemned Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack outright, while also criticizing Israeli occupation policy. As of August 2026, his stance is best described as pro-coexistence and anti-boycott, not politically pro-Israel, and not hostile to Jews or Israelis as people.
What Sari Nusseibeh has actually said and done
July 27, 2002: Nusseibeh, then the Palestinian Authority's representative in Jerusalem, co-authored the People's Voice (also called the Ayalon-Nusseibeh Declaration of Principles) with former Shin Bet director Ami Ayalon. The plan stated explicitly that Israel would be recognized as the state of the Jewish people alongside a demilitarized Palestinian state on 1967 lines with land swaps. By 2004 the campaign behind it reported roughly 183,400 Israeli and 140,000 Palestinian signatures. The declaration's text is archived by the Economic Cooperation Foundation and by the United States Institute of Peace.
2003: Nusseibeh co-founded the Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization (IPSO) with Menahem Yaari, then-president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, to keep joint Israeli-Palestinian scientific collaboration alive. He has served as its co-chairman, per Peace Insight.
June 18, 2006: As president of Al-Quds University, Nusseibeh publicly opposed academic boycotts of Israel. He told Ynetnews that Israeli academia has shown "the most progressive pro-peace views" of any sector of Israeli society, and that of all sectors, "this is the last one to approach" for punishment, a position also reported by Haaretz.
2011: In his book "What Is a Palestinian State Worth?", having grown skeptical that a negotiated two-state deal was achievable, Nusseibeh floated a one-state thought experiment in which Palestinians would hold civil but not full political rights inside Israel. It was a provocation about the failure of two-state talks rather than a sustained campaign, and critics on both sides rejected it as unworkable or disingenuous, as summarized on his Wikipedia biography citing contemporaneous reviews.
March 27, 2014: Nusseibeh resigned as president of Al-Quds University three days after a Hamas-affiliated student rally with mock rifles was held on campus, a display he had already publicly condemned as inappropriate for the university, according to The Times of Israel.
February 20, 2024: Speaking at a Harvard event, Nusseibeh condemned Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack as senseless brutality, saying "including first and foremost the seventh of October itself" and "no human being can fail to be ashamed when other human beings are massacred." He also criticized Israel's military response and the occupation, and called for both sides to negotiate directly: "what we really need is just to sit together and face each other," per the Harvard Gazette.
The bigger picture
Sari Nusseibeh, born in 1949, is a Palestinian philosopher from a prominent Jerusalem family, educated at Oxford and Harvard, who served as president of Al-Quds University from 1995 to 2014. He is not a supporter of Israel in the political sense: he has been a lifelong advocate for Palestinian statehood and has criticized Israeli occupation policy throughout his career. But he is also one of the Palestinian public figures most consistently willing to engage directly with Israelis rather than boycott or confront them. His 2002 peace declaration with Ami Ayalon explicitly affirmed Israel's right to exist as the Jewish state, paired with a Palestinian state as the state of the Palestinian people, which cuts against any suggestion that he has questioned the legitimacy of a Jewish state. He has also been an outspoken opponent of the academic boycott of Israel, arguing Israeli academics are natural partners for Palestinians rather than a target, and he co-founded and has co-chaired a joint Israeli-Palestinian science body. After October 7, 2023, he condemned the Hamas attack in unambiguous terms while also criticizing Israel's response, a both-sides position consistent with his decades-long dialogue stance. There is no record of Jewish ancestry, conversion, donations to Israeli causes, or attendance at pro-Israel events; his engagement with Israel runs through peace diplomacy, joint academic institutions, and public commentary, not identity or philanthropy.
The bottom line
Sari Nusseibeh does not "support Israel" as a political matter and remains a Palestinian nationalist critical of the occupation, but he stands out among Palestinian intellectuals for direct partnership with Israelis: he co-wrote a peace plan recognizing Israel as the Jewish state, fought against boycotting Israeli academics, co-founded and co-chaired a joint Israeli-Palestinian science organization, and condemned the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack outright. He is not on record as hostile to Israelis or Jews; he is a peace-process figure, neither a pro-Israel advocate nor an anti-Israel boycotter.
Wear where you stand
Whatever your read on a given public figure's record, plenty of shoppers want something simpler and more direct: a way to show where they personally stand. If that is you, our I Stand With Israel bracelet is a small, everyday way to say it without ambiguity.
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Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
