The Kerry Talks: Why the US Needs to Be in the Room
By Daoud Kuttab Students of political negotiations might remember the long and difficult discussions in Paris about the shape of the negotiating table for the talks to end the Vietnam War. In the Palestinian-Israeli context, the discussion is not so much on the shape of the table as it is about the participants at the table. One of […]
Why Palestinians are reluctant to smile
By Daoud Kuttab The body language evident in two recent pictures of American, Israeli and Palestinian officials speaks volumes. The first was of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas along with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli President Shimon Peres. The picture was taken during the World Economic Forum held on the Jordanian side of […]
Signs of Seriousness In Israel-Palestine Peace Talks
By Daoud Kuttab The dinner with US Secretary of State John Kerry on July 29 will be the first face-to-face meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials in more than three years. It is unclear what the agenda of the two days of meetings at the State Department will be, but it is clear that instead of the incremental process […]
My Interview on CNN with Fareed Zakaria
Below is my interview with CNN followed by the opening statement of fareed and the interview with the Israeli ambassador. On air my interview was last but on my home page I can change the order. page We asked their official representative in Washington to join us, but the Palestinians say Secretary of State John […]
Is the Middle East Rejecting Radicalism?
By Daoud Kuttab As thousands of Egyptians hit the streets in response to a call from Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asking for a mandate to crush demonstrating supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, one has to ask the simple question: Is the Middle East turning away from radicalism and becoming more moderate? The signs of moderation in […]
US Appeals Court Rejects ‘Jerusalem, Israel’ on Passport
By Daoud Kuttab The case before the US Court of Appeals in Washington involved whether an American couple could register their son as being born in “Jerusalem, Israel.†Challenging the US State Department in the suit were, in addition to the child’s parents, were a number of major prominent US Jewish organizations — including […]
Leap of Faith Needed For Israeli-Palestinian Talks
By Daoud Kuttab Many analysts and activists are questioning the wisdom of the Palestinian leadership agreeing to preliminary talks in Washington, without having secured the coveted settlement freeze and the declaration by Israel that the 1967 borders are the basis of the negotiations. Palestinians and Israelis have debated whether these issues are considered preconditions to peace talks or […]
US Court rejects to connect Jerusalem with Israel
By Daoud Kuttab The city of Jerusalem has many diplomatic missions that have the official title of consulate general. These include the US, most Western European and Scandinavian countries, as well as Turkey. These diplomatic missions report directly to their capitals and they are not accountable officially to their counterparts from their country’s diplomatic missions […]
Full text of DC Appeals Court ruling re Jerusalem
United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT Argued March 19, 2013 Decided July 23, 2013 No. 07-5347 MENACHEM BINYAMIN ZIVOTOFSKY, BY HIS PARENTS AND GUARDIANS ARI Z. AND NAOMI SIEGMAN ZIVOTOFSKY, APPELLANT v. SECRETARY OF STATE, APPELLEE Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 03cv01921) Nathan Lewin argued the […]
Kerry’s Best Kept Secret On the Middle East
By Daoud Kuttab A well-known American bureau chief in Israel of a major US newspaper always prided himself with knowing the key to getting Israel to politically move in the peace process. You must use invisible hands to hurt them, he told me shortly after the first intifada broke out. The Israelis must feel the pain […]