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Israel’s ‘absurd’ Jerusalem map
          By Daoud Kuttab It has been proven true over the years that victors write the history. Nowhere is this fact more obvious than in Jerusalem, where Israelis are trying unsuccessfully to rewrite centuries-old history. By changing facts on the ground the Israelis are desperately trying to claim…
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Palestinian PM says he is ‘bitterly disappointed’ in US
By Daoud Kuttab Since being appointed Palestinian prime minister in June 2013, Rami Hamdallah has run a tight economic ship, earning him praise from Christoph Duenwald, the local representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Hamdallah proudly showed Al-Monitor a Feb. 11 IMF statement acknowledging the reduction of the Palestinian deficit to nearly 1% of gross domestic product (GDP).  Praise from the IMF aside, Hamdallah said, “As prime…
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Tax havens and journalistic work
By Daoud Kuttab Some five years ago, a lawyer working for the Panama-based Mossak Fonseca leaked a trove of documents exposing the identity of the owners of a large number of offshore companies registered in Jersey, the British Islands and Luxemburg. This massive leak led to the German government’s closing three banks it deemed had…
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Nowhere to run: Palestine marathoners race on short track
By Daoud Kuttab For the fourth year in a row, Bethlehem hosted a spring marathon. Nearly 4,400 participants, including foreigners and local Palestinians, ran, walked or pushed baby strollers in the Palestine Marathon on April 1 in a festive atmosphere. Â To finish the full marathon, the runners had to complete two laps of a 21-kilometer…
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Is Israel reviving this 50-year-old land plan?
By Daoud Kuttab In a March 18 statement, the Land Defense Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) reintroduced to political discussion terminology no longer often heard. In the statement, the PLO accused right-wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu of reviving theAllon Plan, so named after the late Labor Party Minister Yigal Allon.  The Allon Plan, developed shortly after Israel began its occupation of Palestinian lands in 1967, proposed that…
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Jordan’s way of dealing with terrorists
             By Daoud Kuttab After every horrific act of violent extremism we are inundated with right-wing incitement against followers of a major religion and, often from the West, with calls to use the Israeli approach in combating terrorism. Very little effort is made by pundits to…
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Is the Arab world losing its diversity?
By Daoud Kuttab The airlifting of a dozen-and-a-half Yemeni Jews to Israel last Monday received wide coverage. The action to evacuate 19 Yemenis to Israel is said to have included four stops and was done in cooperation with the US State Department. What happens to these Yemeni Jews, as well as what happened to the…
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Gaza’s Christians prepare to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem
By Daoud Kuttab Karam Qubrosi can’t believe that Israel is allowing so many Gazans to travel on the occasion of Easter. “This is a dream come true, especially for many of us in the age group of 18-35,†he told Al-Monitor. Speaking to Al-Monitor after reaching the West Bank town of Beit Sahour, Qubrosi, 28,…
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Palestinian farmers caught in political tug of war
By Daoud Kuttab Hundreds of Palestinian dairy and meat farmers find themselves caught in a political struggle between Israel and the Palestinian authorities. Â The problem of Palestinian farmers began on March 10 when Israeli troops barred trucks belonging to the five leading Palestinian dairy and meat companies from entering into Jerusalem. Trucks from Hamoda dairy…
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Palestinian families need closure
By Daoud Kuttab One of the nastiest acts that has emerged since the beginning of the current wave of Palestinian resistance to Israel is the cruel punishment of withholding bodies of dead Palestinians. Israel is holding the corpses of some 13 Palestinians, some summarily killed by Israeli soldiers, for as long as five months. Taher…