Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, a professor of philosophy at Bir Zeit University, was arrested without charge by the Israeli authorities on January 29. He is well known as a Palestinian leader of moderate views who has on occasion suffered at the hands of other Palestinians for his moderation and his willingness to maintain contact with Israelis.

His arrest at his own home—to which he had been confined since the beginning of the war by the continuous Israeli curfew in the occupied territories—and the absence of any charge or prospect of trial are bound to raise the gravest suspicions regarding the motives of the Israeli authorities and to damage the respect and good will which its restraint has won for Israel in recent weeks.

We call on the Israeli government either to charge him and put him on trial or to release him.

Jonathan Barnes
Isaiah Berlin
Gerald Cohen
Donald Davidson
Michael Dummett
Ronald Dworkin
John Finnis
Stuart Hampshire
H.L.A. Hart
Leszek Kolakowski
Steven Lukes
Alan Montefiore
Sidney Morgenbesser
Claus Moser
Thomas Nagel
Onora O’Neill
Christopher Peacocke
David Pears
Peter Pulzer
Hilary Putnam
John Rawls
Joseph Raz
Thomas Scanlon
Anthony Smith
Peter Strawson
Richard Swinburne
Michael Walzer
Mary Warnock
Geoffrey Warnock
David Wiggins
Bernard Williams

This Issue

March 7, 1991