Sabri Jiryis
Encyclopedia
Sabri Jiryis (born 1938 in the Palestinian Christian
town of Fassuta
) is a Palestinian-Arab Israeli writer and lawyer, a graduate of the Hebrew University law faculty, and prominent Palestinian
activist. In 1966 the first edition of his book The Arabs in Israel was published in Hebrew
.
and based on Emergency Regulations. According to this order Sabri Jiryis was to:
20 February 1970 he was jailed on another Administrative regulation. In March 1970, Jiryis was one of the initiators of a hunger strike by Palestinian administrative detainees, which attracted wide support, including demonstrations in Israel and across the world.
He was allowed to leave Israel
later in 1970, and moved to Beirut
where he became director of the Palestine Research Centre.
sent Sabri Jiryis together with Isam Sartawi to Washington, D.C.
to open an office to represent the Palestinian people. These two held a series of meetings, among others with people prominent in American Jewish groups in New York and Washington. Rabbi Max Ticktin and Arthur Waskow
(both members of "Breira") were among five American Jews at the Washington meeting. According to some sources, Jiryis and Sartawi were within a few hours of holding a press conference to announce the establishment of their new office. However, Henry Kissinger
, then the Secretary of State, working in coordination with Yitzhak Rabin
, then the Israeli Prime Minister, sent the FBI to the Capitol Hilton Hotel to deport Jiryis and Sartawi.
About the same time, Israeli doves General Mattiyahu Peled
, Uri Avneri, and Arie Eliav had been meeting for months in Paris
with Jiryis and Sartawi.http://www.friendsofopenhouse.org/article17.cfm
In 1977 Jiryis, as a member of the Palestinian National Council
, wrote:
During the 1982 Lebanon War
the Palestine Research Centre's historical archives were seized by occupying Israeli forces, but were returned as part of the November 1983 prisoner exchange with the PLO. In February 1983 a saboteur’s bomb destroyed the Centre; among those killed was Jiryis's wife.http://www.ameu.org/page.asp?iid=171&aid=215&pg=10
Jiryis moved on to Nicosia
in July 1983. In 1995, after the Oslo accords
, he returned to Israel.
in western Galilee (northern Israel), had been arrested on December 12, 2005. The arrest was kept secret by the Israeli military censor until an Acre
municipal court judge accepted the newspaper Haaretz
's request to lift the ban on publication of the affair.http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/667264.html The Shin Bet security service and the police alleged that Jiryis Jiryis had been recruited by Iranian intelligence during a stay in Cyprus.
Sabri Jiryis, acting as his brothers attorney, claimed that the suspicions were baseless. Jiryis said the security services had been tracking his brother for nine months, and that during his interrogation, he was presented with a recording of a phone call during which his brother was heard rejecting the Iranian agents' offer of assistance. "'My brother is a very secular man, affiliated with the PLO's centrist stream, who believes in peace talks and a two-state solution for two nations,' he told the Haaretz newspaper, and added: "What they are trying to ascribe to him contradicts his political outlook."
"During the detention, the police dropped the spy charges initially ascribed to him" Sabri Jiryis added further, and he believed the additional suspicions against his brother would be refuted "because the police have no evidence on the matter."
Palestinian Christian
Palestinian Christians are Arabic-speaking Christians descended from the people of the geographical area of Palestine. Within Palestine, there are churches and believers from many Christian denominations, including Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic , Protestant, and others...
town of Fassuta
Fassuta
Fassuta is a Israeli Arab town on the northwestern slopes of Mount Meron in the Northern District of Israel, south of the Lebanese border.In 2005, the population of Fassuta was 2,900.-History:...
) is a Palestinian-Arab Israeli writer and lawyer, a graduate of the Hebrew University law faculty, and prominent Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
activist. In 1966 the first edition of his book The Arabs in Israel was published in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
.
Arrest in Israel
He was given an "Administrative House Arrest" on 25 April 1969. The order was given by the Chief of the Northern Command, David ElazarDavid Elazar
David "Dado" Elazar was the ninth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, serving in that capacity from 1972 to 1974. He was forced to resign in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War.-Early life:...
and based on Emergency Regulations. According to this order Sabri Jiryis was to:
- not live outside the city limits of HaifaHaifaHaifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
,
- not change home within Haifa without police permission,
- not leave the city of Haifa without police permission,
- report to the police every day at 15.45,
- stay in his home from one hour before sunset until dawn.
20 February 1970 he was jailed on another Administrative regulation. In March 1970, Jiryis was one of the initiators of a hunger strike by Palestinian administrative detainees, which attracted wide support, including demonstrations in Israel and across the world.
He was allowed to leave Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
later in 1970, and moved to Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
where he became director of the Palestine Research Centre.
Palestinian activism
About 1975 ArafatArafat
Arafat is a surname or given name, and may refer to:* Yasser Arafat , Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority * Fathi Arafat , Palestinian physician...
sent Sabri Jiryis together with Isam Sartawi to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to open an office to represent the Palestinian people. These two held a series of meetings, among others with people prominent in American Jewish groups in New York and Washington. Rabbi Max Ticktin and Arthur Waskow
Arthur Waskow
Arthur Ocean Waskow, born Arthur I. Waskow, is an American author, political activist, and rabbi associated with the Jewish Renewal movement.-Education and early career:...
(both members of "Breira") were among five American Jews at the Washington meeting. According to some sources, Jiryis and Sartawi were within a few hours of holding a press conference to announce the establishment of their new office. However, Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
, then the Secretary of State, working in coordination with Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
, then the Israeli Prime Minister, sent the FBI to the Capitol Hilton Hotel to deport Jiryis and Sartawi.
About the same time, Israeli doves General Mattiyahu Peled
Mattityahu Peled
Mattityahu "Matti" Peled was a well-known Israeli public figure who was at various periods of his life a professional military man who reached the rank of Aluf in the IDF and was a member of the General Staff during the Six Day War of 1967; a notable scholar who headed the Arabic Language and...
, Uri Avneri, and Arie Eliav had been meeting for months in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with Jiryis and Sartawi.http://www.friendsofopenhouse.org/article17.cfm
In 1977 Jiryis, as a member of the Palestinian National Council
Palestinian National Council
The Palestinian National Council is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization and elects its Executive Committee, which assumes leadership of the organization between its sessions. The Council normally meets every two years. Resolutions are passed by a simple majority with a...
, wrote:
The Palestinians may, in certain circumstances, be ready to seek a settlement in the area to which Israel is a party. But they are not prepared to conclude an agreement recognizing the legitimacy of Zionism; no Palestinian Arab can ever accept as legitimate, a doctrine that he should be excluded from most parts of his homeland, because he is a Muslim Arab or a Christian Arab, while anyone of the Jewish faith from anywhere in the world is entitled to settle there. Realism may require recognition of the existence of a Jewish state in Palestine and that this fact be taken into account in seeking a settlement. But this can never mean approving the expansionist and exclusivist tendencies of Zionism. The Journal of Palestine Studies, 1977.
During the 1982 Lebanon War
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
the Palestine Research Centre's historical archives were seized by occupying Israeli forces, but were returned as part of the November 1983 prisoner exchange with the PLO. In February 1983 a saboteur’s bomb destroyed the Centre; among those killed was Jiryis's wife.http://www.ameu.org/page.asp?iid=171&aid=215&pg=10
Jiryis moved on to Nicosia
Nicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
in July 1983. In 1995, after the Oslo accords
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...
, he returned to Israel.
2005 arrest
On Jan. 7th 2006 it became known that his brother, Jiryis Jiryis, age 57, a resident of the Christian village of FassutaFassuta
Fassuta is a Israeli Arab town on the northwestern slopes of Mount Meron in the Northern District of Israel, south of the Lebanese border.In 2005, the population of Fassuta was 2,900.-History:...
in western Galilee (northern Israel), had been arrested on December 12, 2005. The arrest was kept secret by the Israeli military censor until an Acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
municipal court judge accepted the newspaper Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
's request to lift the ban on publication of the affair.http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/667264.html The Shin Bet security service and the police alleged that Jiryis Jiryis had been recruited by Iranian intelligence during a stay in Cyprus.
Sabri Jiryis, acting as his brothers attorney, claimed that the suspicions were baseless. Jiryis said the security services had been tracking his brother for nine months, and that during his interrogation, he was presented with a recording of a phone call during which his brother was heard rejecting the Iranian agents' offer of assistance. "'My brother is a very secular man, affiliated with the PLO's centrist stream, who believes in peace talks and a two-state solution for two nations,' he told the Haaretz newspaper, and added: "What they are trying to ascribe to him contradicts his political outlook."
"During the detention, the police dropped the spy charges initially ascribed to him" Sabri Jiryis added further, and he believed the additional suspicions against his brother would be refuted "because the police have no evidence on the matter."
External links
- The PLO is his life's work By Yair Ettinger in HaaretzHaaretzHaaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
17/11/2004 - Christian-Arab activists face minefield of identity, By Yoav Stern and Jack Khoury in Haaretz, 25/03/2005