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Jordanian Website Owners Reject Attempts to Gag Them
By Daoud Kuttab Among the most important rights achieved by Arab demonstrators in the past two years are the freedoms of assembly and of expression. Millions of Arabs gathered in squares and circles demanding an end to autocratic rules and a share in the political decision-making processes in their countries. Along with the freedom of…
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The sad truth about US attitudes to Palestinians
By Daoud Kuttab For the second time in less than three months a leader of a major US party stereotypes Palestinians in racists and anti peace terms. The revelation of Mitt Romney’s foreign policy attitudes towards Palestinians sheds light on the gap between declared policies and the truth. In Jerusalem this summer Romney described to…
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How Palestinians Can Engage the West
By Daoud Kuttab Anyone following the Palestinian struggle for liberation understands that the only path to success today is through a concerted, holistic, non-violent approach. Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, have been repeatedly and consistently opposing any violent solution and supporting acts of popular non-violent resistance. Recently, they even succeeded in…
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Analysis: Is Israel’s permit policy political, or economic?
By Daoud Kuttab After years of travel restrictions, Israel last month opened up its borders to many (not all, of course) Palestinians from the West Bank. In Nablus alone, 17,000 permits were issued out of 25,000 applications. Certain age groups were allowed in without a permit. The occasion was the holy month of Ramadan, but…
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Romney’s ‘Culture’ War Comes to Mideast
By Daoud Kuttab The presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president, Mitt Romney, gave himself the authority to declare a cultural war in West Jerusalem this week. As part of his efforts to woo wealthy Jewish donors to contribute to his campaign, he declared that nations are better off because of culture and indirectly suggested that Israel be…
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The Return of the PLO
By Daoud Kuttab The past two and a half decades witnessed the slow death of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The PLO, established in June 1964 by the Arab League and then taken over internally by the various resistance movements, led by Fateh, is credited with the unification of the Palestinians in the diaspora. It is also…
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Fayyad’s Election Initiative
By Daoud Kuttab The belief in Palestine is that the office of the president is responsible for major national and international policies and initiatives, while the office of the prime minister is responsible for executing these policies. For the most part, this has been the norm in Palestine’s temporary capital, Ramallah. The West Bank-Gaza…
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Trust Broken in Ramallah
By Daoud Kuttab Something deep and painful was broken in Ramallah this week: along with the bones broken by violent Palestinian plainclothes and official security officials dealing with a protest, Palestinian trust was permanently wounded. The protests were called for by non-partisan youth protesting the intended, unprecedented, visit by the Israeli vice premier, Shaul Mofaz, to…
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For Investigative Journalism
following appeared in today’s Jordan Times For Investigative Journalism by Daoud Kuttab In celebrating the successful investigative journalism feat carried out recently in private centres that house children with disabilities in Jordan, King Abdullah hosted at the Royal Palace two women Jordanian journalists who are involved in investigative journalism. The meeting reveals much about what…
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Strange State of Palestinian Conflict Could Produce Unexpected Results
following ran in the Jordan Times By Daoud Kuttab  The Palestinian conflict is going through one of its strangest stages these days. So much is going against Palestine, yet so much is going for it. Israel was never as arrogant in its treatment of Palestinians and its expansionist policy, and the U.S. government as well…