Oct
31
2006
Daoud Kuttab International Herald Tribune
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2006
RAMALLAH, West Bank In an eight-column headline, the leading Palestinian newspaper, Al Quds, summarized on Oct. 18 the current position of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas: Bread is more important than democracy.
Abbas, a moderate, is pointing out that in order to bypass the unjust siege that has been placed on Palestinians he will have to shelve the democratic process.
Oct
21
2006
by Daoud Kuttab
October 19, 2006 Edition 39 Volume 4
The Arab League’s peace initiative came some time after the eruption of the Aqsa intifada and followed a plan conceived of by then Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The plan was actually leaked to the NY Times’ Tom Friedman in advance over a private dinner with the crown prince and was then adopted as an Arab peace plan at the Arab League Summit in Beirut in March 2002.
Oct
19
2006
October 19, 2006
I have tried for years to avoid traveling via the Tel Aviv airport, usually I try to leave out of Amman. But today I had to be in Palestine till Wednesday night and the only way to attend the conference I was invited to speak at was to leave from Ben Gurion Airport. I left Jerusalem in plenty of time, I thought, and sure enough at the very entrance of the airport the taxi I was riding in was stopped and we had to wait some 20 minutes until they thoroughly checked the car.
Next was the security check in. I tried to explain to the low level security woman checking my passport that I am a professional journalist.
Oct
06
2006
Daoud Kuttab
Palestinians living in the occupied territories are clutching at straws these days. The one-month public servants strike which crippled all public institutions and kept hundreds of thousands of Palestinian students in the streets does not seem any closer to a resolution.
Palestinian weapons meant to be used for self defence have become offensive weapons. Political parties and military factions are not able to meet on any clear minimum programme. Worse of all, the use of violence to solve the most mundane dispute threatens the national fabric of the Palestinian society.
Continue Reading »
Oct
06
2006
Daoud Kuttab
Palestinians living in the occupied territories are clutching at straws these days. The one-month public servants strike which crippled all public institutions and kept hundreds of thousands of Palestinian students in the streets does not seem any closer to a resolution.
Palestinian weapons meant to be used for self defence have become offensive weapons. Political parties and military factions are not able to meet on any clear minimum programme. Worse of all, the use of violence to solve the most mundane dispute threatens the national fabric of the Palestinian society.
Continue Reading »
Oct
05
2006
October 5th 2006 Jordan River Crossing Point
It was not my intention or my plans, but when the dust settled, I had finally succeeded in beating the ugly monopoly system on the Jordan river crossing point called VIP.
It all started when I called the Israeli manager of the bridge to find out what is the latest I can leave on the Allenby crossing point (called King Hussein Bridge by the Jordanians and Karameh crossing by the Palestinians)
Oct
04
2006
By Daoud Kuttab
An editorial note before I answer this question, I need to make a note that the word terrorist is put within inverted comas signifying that this is not my description.
To begin with I have to tell you the story of Haroon Abu Arra. I met Haroon in 1996. He was a student at Al Quds University’s nursing college.* The nursing school was chosen as the location of Al Quds Educational TV because it was within –what was thought then- sovereign Palestinian territory. Haroon originally from the Jenin area, would hang around the studio and when we needed someone to man the nightly broadcasting of our educational station, he volunteered.