Obama’s Visit to Region Brings New Hope for Peace
By Daoud Kuttab Just when it appeared that the United States was about to wash its hands from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, new information is emerging from Washington indicating the opposite. Many observers of U.S. foreign policy understand that in an election year, the U.S. is unable to articulate a coherent (and possibly confrontational with […]
UN Report Sets Stage for Hague Case Against Israel
By Daoud Kuttab It was no coincidence that Israeli representatives boycotted the Jan. 29 meeting of the UNÂ Human Rights Council, at which Israel’s record was to be reviewed. They had been aware for months that a three-person fact-finding mission headed by French judge Christine Chanet would be extremely critical of Israel. In fact, according […]
Does Dress Code Signal ‘Hamasization’ of Gaza?
By Daoud Kuttab As if the Palestinian people didn’t have enough problems with the occupation and the political splits, we are now experiencing a new controversy, this time a social one. The problem began last Sunday, Jan. 27, when the board of trustees of Al Aqsa University voted unanimously to impose a “dress code†[…]
Jordanian Elections Season Exposes Flaws
By Daoud Kuttab After months of discussions and debates, the parliamentary election season in Jordan is finally upon us, and it exposes numerous flaws and weaknesses. Jordanians spent the better part of 2012 arguing about the best elections law for the country. In the aftermath of the Jordanian Arab Spring, many wanted an elections […]
Accepting reality after Jordan’s elections
Following appeared in Jordan Times By Daoud Kuttab “The people have spoken, the voters have decided and I bow to the will of citizens and accept the election result.” This sentence or a variation of it is often spoken to the press by candidates who lose elections, often after having made a congratulatory phone call […]
Winners and losers
Following appeared in Jordan times. By Daoud Kuttab Even before a single vote was counted and results announced, it was clear who were the main winners and losers. And for the most part, they were not the candidates. The biggest winner in the Jordanian legislative elections was the state. It bargained on the public and […]
Palestinians Smiling, If Unsure About Israeli Election Results
By Daoud Kuttab The ambiguous results of the Israeli elections have left Palestinians with an attitude best embodied by the novel of the late Palestinian novelist Emile Habibi, a pessoptimist. Palestinians were dumbfounded by the unanticipated and unclear results, which have left them torn between feelings of optimism and pessimism. There were plenty of reasons to […]
Palestinian Reconciliation Hits Snag, Again
By Daoud Kuttab Despite claims to the contrary, the Palestinian reconciliation effort appears to have hit a snag of some sort. Publicly, both Fatah and Hamas leaders are insisting that the musalaha is going ahead and that a unified, agreed-to government will be declared by the end of the month. Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk […]
US Fails to Use Leverage With Israel
By Daoud Kuttab During the past few decades, one can easily and accurately trace times in which world powers (especially the US) were able to influence a political process. At least two Israeli elections come to mind: the victory of Labor’s Yitshaq Rabin replacing Yitshaq Shamir in the early 1990s and not long after […]
Abbas, Meshaal Attempt To Reconcile in Cairo
Daoud Kuttab When the leaders of the two conflicting Palestinian organizations meet in Cairo, they will have a long, hard set of problems to resolve. Some of these problems continue to exist between the two leaders, but the bigger problems exist between the leaders and their own radicals. This latter problem is more acute with Hamas […]