By Daoud Kuttab The 700-seat Ramallah Cultural Palace, on whose premises is the grave of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, was overcrowded on September 9. Over 850 people packed the cinema hall to watch Najwa Najjar’s premiere of her second long feature film,Eyes of a Thief. The Palestinian filmmaker’s film follows her successful Pomegranates and Myrrh,which…

By Daoud Kuttab The common saying that one person’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist well describes how the world is often divided over the Palestinian resistance. One of the continuous and often angry arguments between Palestinians and Israelis concerns the form of Palestinian resistance. Israelis showcase cherry-picked acts of Palestinian violence in which Israeli civilians…

By Daoud Kuttab When Moshe Feiglin, deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset, set foot in Al-Aqsa Mosque around 10 a.m. Sept. 14, he was on more than a tourist visit. His venture to the mosque and short prayer in the area was seen as an attempt to declare Jewish sovereignty over the Islamic holy place. It…

Following appeared in the Jordan Times newspaper By Daoud Kuttab “I have had it up to here,” said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the emir of Qatar and the head of Hamas. “I have had it with Hamas, with Arabs with Israel and even with Fateh.” Abbas’ words and the minutes of the meetings of…

By Daoud Kuttab When chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and the head of Palestinian intelligence Majed Farraj walked into the offices of US Secretary of State John KerryJohn Kerry on Sept. 4, they were prepared for all eventualities. For the first time in modern history, the Palestinian leadership had produced a time-based political initiative that was not dependent on…

By Daoud Kuttab It seems as simple as pushing a button. Palestinian-Israeli politics have shifted from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, as if the 51-day war against Gaza never happened. One week after the announcement of the permanent cease-fire by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel is back to confiscating Palestinian lands for settlements, Jewish religious zealots are infiltrating Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and Palestinian internal bickering is…

By Daoud Kuttab No sooner did the war on the Gaza Strip disappear from the headlines, all the old headlines appeared. More Israeli confiscation of West Bank land reminds the Palestinians of the root of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: land. The largest land grab in 30 years announced Aug. 31 covers nearly 4,000 dunums (1.5 square miles) south of Bethlehem….

By Daoud Kuttab After 51 horrible days, the people of Gaza, Israel and the world breathed a sigh of relief when a ceasefire agreement was announced by the Palestinian president on August 26. The impressive regional and international coalition that worked on putting a stop to this war went back to dealing with other pressing issues. Israelis…

By Daoud Kuttab Israeli and international circles are searching for clues as to what the new Palestinian political initiative will contain. In a television interview with Egypt’s Sada al-Balad, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was planning a major political surprise that will be made known in the coming weeks. In his victory news conference in Doha, the…

By Daoud Kuttab The extremely harsh way in which Israel executed its war on Gaza had one basic goal: deterrence. Although Israel might have partially succeeded in its deterrence strategy, an unexpected result was born during the war: mutual deterrence. The strong and continuous Palestinian rocket response to the Israeli aggression did not cease until the very…