Daoud Kuttab



For the first time in Palestinian history, Jerusalem has a minister: Khaled Abu Arafeh, a businessman from East Jerusalem who worked as a mechanical engineer until he took over the family hardware store just off Salah Eddine street. This is not to say that Palestinians didn’t pay attention to their declared capital before the Islamic Hamas movement decided to create a separate ministry for the affairs of Jerusalem and its Palestinian Arab residents. Before Abu Arafeh, Faisal Husseini had been a de facto minister of the city.

Hamas has a government, so now what?



By Daoud Kuttab



Having just formed a Palestinian government, Hamas seems to be clutching to the Biblical verses in Ecclesiastes rather than the desires of the "Quartet" (the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations) charged with trying to bridge the Israeli-Palestinian divide. "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven," fits Hamas’ current agenda because its priorities and timeframe are different from those of the international community, which is pressing it to make immediate political declarations – most importantly, to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Hamas understands the political obligations that it must meet in order to be fully accepted into the world community, but its leaders prefer to wait until they are fully empowered before exploring these issues. Moreover, Hamas, like most Palestinians, is trying to evaluate the best way forward in the peace process. In its eyes, the current process produced years of inaction in negotiations, allowing for continued occupation and theft of Palestinian lands.

By Daoud Kuttab



March 9, 2006



I paid through my nose this week to get from Ramallah to Amman and the bridge wasn’t crowded like in the summer time.



It all started when I had to make an appointment at 2pm in Ramallah. The meeting went till 2:30 and by the time I took a taxi (for 20 shekes) to the Qalandia checkpoint it was already 2:45. The line was not long but by the time I got out it was already close to 3. I hailed a taxi and haggled him to the normal price of 150 shekels. When I got to the bridge terminal it was already about 3:45pm. I know that the bridge closes at 4. I paid 150 shekels for the Jerusalem permit and 136 shekels exit tax. But when I tried to go to the passport control the Israeli official in charge of the bridge said I can’t leave on the Jet bus parked outside because this is only for foreigners. I screamed and shouted but to no avail. I had no choice but to take the Qumran VIP service. I made a big complaint about it being a monopoly and that the high charge for the 4 kilometer ride is nothing less than theft but to no avail. I had to pay $ 82 just to get in a van that was 20 minutes late in coming. On the Jordanian side I finished very quickly but was unable to find a shared taxi so I had to take a special taxi which I succeeded in haggling to JD 12. So the total cost of the trip from Ramallah to Amman was 456 shekels, $ 82, and JD 12 which comes out to about $200.