The news from the Middle East this week wasn't as dramatic as the suicide bombings or as riveting as the down-to-the-wire negotiations of the bygone peace process.

But the closing of Palestinian Sari Nusseibeh's office by Israeli Public Security Minister and leading Likudnik Uzi Landau did mark a regrettable moment in the Middle East conflict. Nusseibeh is president of the Palestinian Al Quds University in East Jerusalem, the Jerusalem representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and easily the most outspoken moderate Palestinian leader.

At first glance, the issue is a dispute over interim peace accords, which Landau says the Palestinian Authority violated by conducting political activity out of Nusseibeh's Al Quds office. The terms forbid any political activity by the P.A. inside Israel's borders. While the accusation is probably true, it represents a minor violation of the pact that both sides have already obliterated -- the Palestinians by condoning violence and the Israelis by failing to dismantle settlements. As for the charge against Nusseibeh, it's hard to imagine anybody in Jerusalem -- especially a university president -- removed from the inevitable mire of Middle East politics.

More likely, Likud sees Nusseibeh's office as an attempt by the P.A. to establish a seat of power in Jerusalem, which will surely be at the center of any future negotiations. That's why last year Israel shut down the Orient House, the office of Nusseibeh's predecessor Faisel Husseini. Israelis hope to undermine a potential Palestinian bargaining chip. That's too bad because Nusseibeh's value as a diplomat extends far beyond his PLO office.

Notwithstanding the minor infraction, Nusseibeh's credentials as a friend of peace are impeccable. The Harvard-educated Jerusalemite has long extolled liberalism and tolerance; he openly criticized Yasser Arafat's rejection of the generous Camp David offer, calling it ''a major missed opportunity''; he condemned the immorality of suicide bombings and beseeched Palestinians to abandon them as counterproductive; and he repudiated the right of return as a painful delusion. With enemies like Nusseibeh, who needs friends?

He is, in short, everything the Israelis and Americans hope for in a successor to Arafat. Nusseibeh is the kind of leader President Bush had in mind when he called for ''leaders not compromised by terror.'' That's why the closure drew criticism from center and left ministers and the White House, which said that the ``action does not contribute to the fight against terror.''

Nusseibeh, a tweed-clad peacenik, is extraordinarily unpopular among Palestinians for his moderation. This has prompted some observers to suggest that the Israeli government actually hoped to shore up support for Nusseibeh with its action. After all, history has shown that nothing wins a Palestinian popularity like being targeted by Israel.

If it were true that the closure was intended to increase Nusseibeh's public support, it would indicate risky diplomacy by the Likudniks. If the Palestinians fail to rally behind Nusseibeh, Landau will have shot Israel in the foot. But as Nusseibeh would probably admit, Tuesday's episode isn't all that complicated. As he has said, ``The good thing about [Ariel] Sharon is that he is a very systematic and straightforward thinker, and determined. He tells you what he wants to do and does it.''

Whatever the case, Nusseibeh shouldn't be allowed to fade from political life in the Mideast. As one of the few Palestinians speaking clearly and loudly on the side of reason, his presence tempers the volatile Palestinian electorate. Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat should give Nusseibeh elbow room to make his case, rather than cast him out as the enemy or ignore him as ineffective. Both sides should nurture him as somebody whose articulate voice has a bright future -- if there is a genuine desire to end the stalemate.

Adam B. Kushner, a Herald editorial intern, is a senior at Columbia University. He edits the Columbia Political Review.

adam.kushner@columbia.edu