Palestinian Hopes for 2013
By Daoud Kuttab Although it is artificial, the end of a year is usually a good time to take stock and to think ahead. Some Palestinians evaluating where they are and assessing their future are cautiously optimistic. Others are downright pessimistic. Like any good debater, one can argue both sides. The reality on the […]
Palestinian Reconciliation at Snail’s Pace
By Daoud Kuttab The long-heralded Palestinian reconciliation is going on for another year despite wishes to the opposite earlier this year. Thus 2012 began with lots of promises that produced the Doha declaration on Feb. 6  between Hamas’ Khaled Mashal and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also the leader of Fatah. The idea behind […]
Is Jordan-Palestine Confederation Back on Negotiating Table?
By Daoud Kuttab The decision by the vast majority of UN members to recognize Palestine as an “observer state†has paved the way for more creative solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. One of the less-talked-about advantages of the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution recognizing Palestine on the 1967 borders is that it permanently ended […]
Bad Security and Worse Economy Spell Trouble for West Bank
By Daoud Kuttab Two crucial problems are taking place simultaneously in the occupied West Bank this week. Palestinian-Israeli security cooperation is quickly worsening, and the economic situation is reaching a point of real danger. All together this dangerous combination can easily result in major breakout of violence. Teachers went on nationwide general strike [Dec. […]
Status of Electricity in Jerusalem: It’s Complicated
By Daoud Kuttab In most countries electricity generation and distribution is a government regulated monopoly. It’s no different in Jerusalem. Electricity concessions for Jerusalem was granted  to Greek national Yorbides Mifrotes in 1914 when it was under Turkish rule. After international litigation the concession was passed on to the Jerusalem Electric Co. in 1926. […]
Return of Hamas to West Bank Certain to Be Uphill Battle
By Daoud Kuttab Like most journalists, Mohammad Abu Arqoub loves to chat with taxi drivers to gauge the public mood. In the trip from the center of town to his house in the Raffidya neighborhood, Arqoub, who is also a lecturer at the Al Quds University in Ramallah, wanted to know what people in […]
Bethlehem Has New Female Mayor
By Daoud Kuttab When the leadership of the Fatah movement nominated little known Bethlehem University English literature Professor Vera Baboun to run for mayor of the city, few expected her to win. She ran against well-known male candidates as well as individuals supported by Islamists and left-wing Palestinians. But she surprised all on Oct. […]
Whither Fatah?
By Daoud Kuttab When Palestinian student activists in Kuwait decided that they needed to take matters into their own hands to liberate Palestine, they chose Lebanon as the country that they wanted to launch the first armed attack against the “Zionists†on the first day of 1965. Those planning for and supporting the attack […]