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Why Is Jordan refusing entry to Gaza Palestinians?
By Daoud Kuttab Sharif Muhaisen is worried about losing his job. Muhaisen works for Sanad, a construction industries company in Ramallah owned by the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF). Muhaisen is responsible for importing cement from Jordan. “We import about 500,000 tons of cement from Jordan every year,†he told Al-Monitor by phone from his home in Ramallah. As part of…
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Palestinians say no to cultural monopoly
By Daoud Kuttab The summer months are the high season for cultural activities in Palestine, when folkloric troupes, dabke dance groups and theater companies put on performances for large audiences. The Palestinian Tourism Ministry has a dedicated webpage promoting such artistic, musical and other cultural events. Once summer passes, these artistic groups become focused on invitations to dance and perform in…
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An ill-advised act
By Daoud Kuttab Election season is a time for ideas, initiatives and actions. It is also a real test for the commitment of a state to democracy. This week, this democratic test met a challenge and the result was not very good. A group of young Jordanians decided to hold an election-awareness event. They rented…
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Separating politics from religion
     By Daoud Kuttab Colourful posters of smiling candidates are not new among election-related paraphernalia. But a certain orange-colour poster caught people’s attention because of the slogans it contained. One slogan read: “No to the exploitation of religion.†Another affirmed support “for a civilian stateâ€. A third showed two arrows going to…
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Al-Aqsa Mosque back in the eye of the storm with renewed clashes, arrests
By Daoud Kuttab Tensions between Palestinian worshippers and Israelis at Al-Aqsa Mosque have been growing again. Following several incidents, Jordan’s King Abdullah told the Jordanian newspaper Ad-Dustour on Aug. 15, “We will persist in undertaking our religious and historical responsibilities toward Al-Aqsa Mosque/Haram al-Sharif, which faces repeated violations by extremist groups.†There has been no…
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Knesset plans lobby for return of Palestinians to their villages
By Daoud Kuttab The most unusual group of Knesset members met July 26 to support the rights of the residents of two Palestinian villages who have been denied to return to their villages for 68 years now. The group included members of the governing coalition Kulanu Party and the opposition Zionist Camp, as well as…
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Arab Jerusalemites priced out of own neighborhoods
By Daoud Kuttab When Labib Odeh was looking for a house, he was unable to find anything he could afford in the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Odeh works as the director of the local branch of an international organization he preferred not to name in his interview with Al-Monitor. His salary should have been…
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Need for a paradigm shift
By Daoud Kuttab One of the reasons the Palestinian conflict continues without resolution is the fact that the people affected by the Israeli occupation have no democratic power to change their occupiers. Palestinians can protests, use violence or resort to totally non-violent resistance, and yet nothing happens. The reason is simple: nearly 4 million Palestinians…
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Hizb ut-Tahrir: Palestine is not our main cause
By Daoud Kuttab Many of the ideological concepts and doctrines of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) and the Islamic State (IS) are similar. They both believe in the goal of establishing Islamic caliphate rule and in the strict interpretation of Islamic law. The two groups differ, however, in one major respect: Hizb ut-Tahrir stands categorically against the use…
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UN report: West Bank house demolitions up 25%
By Daoud Kuttab A recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories was jarring. In addition to the usual listing of casualties and injuries among Palestinians, it reported a huge spike this year in the demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures by Israel. In the Aug….