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The King and Palestine
By Daoud Kuttab  “Ziara azima†(fabulous visit). This was the description Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gave to the unexpected visit King Abdullah made to the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. The King’s visit on Monday was the first to Palestine in a decade. He didn’t visit or meet any Israeli official. It is…
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Talk of Palestinian reconciliation
By Daoud Kuttab Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said this week that he was quite happy to step down from his position in order to remove any obstacle in the way of Palestinian reconciliation. It is not the first time he made such a statement, but this time it is politically important, and timely. Fayyad’s…
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Palestinian strategies post-UN vote
By Daoud Kuttab If the UN bid for Palestinian statehood has shown anything, it has shown the Palestinians, again, who their friends are. It was clear, despite US President Barack Obama’s earlier rhetoric, that US would not move in any direction that would upset the Israelis. But it was not only Washington and the British…
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Palestinians Mulling Post UN Vote Strategies
By Daoud Kuttab If the UN bid for Palestinian statehood has shown anything, it has reminded Palestinians of who their real friends are. It was clear, despite Obama’s earlier rhetoric that US would not move any direction that would upset the Israelis. But it was not only Washington and their British poodles (Tony Blair…
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Libya and Palestine
Daoud Kuttab A visitor to Libya now, be it to Benghazi or Tripoli, cannot help but make some comparisons between the Libyan revolution and the Palestinian Intifada. Walk the streets of liberated Libya and you will immediately notice graffiti on the walls and the liberation flags on all locations. To be fair, the Libyan…
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Arab Spring has shown the way to freedom
By Daoud Kuttab Whatever is going to emerge of the new Arab leadership, in the form of ideology, there is little doubt that Islamists will have a prominent role in Arab politics. As it stands now, this new Islamic power will be moderate and accommodating other opinions. Whether this tolerance of other points of view…
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Highlighting The Palestinian Narrative
By Daoud Kuttab For most observers, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, is one of raw politics. Most people familiar with the conflict take one side or another, maybe even becoming fanatic in their defense of their side. Usually those who support the Palestinian cause do so because of a personal connection, because of a visit to Palestinian…
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US Congress ruining 10 years of work in Palestine
By Daoud Kuttab Haroon Abu Araa has come a long way. In the 15 years I have known him, I have seen the transformation and maturity, from a radical university student activist to his present day position as director of Al Quds Educational Television in Ramallah. He took me this week on a tour of…
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Why Palestinians Have No Choice
By Daoud Kuttab For years, Palestinians have been searching for a strategy that can produce freedom from decades of foreign military occupation. The two apparent options that were available to the Palestinian leadership were violent resistance or political negotiations. Yasser Arafat tried both without success. Mahmoud Abbas has been adamantly opposed to violence. Since taking…
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Palestinian prisoners take center stage
Sumud Ahmad Saadat is the daughter of the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), kidnapped from the Palestinian Authority’s prison in Jericho by military force. Saadat is locked up in a jail inside Israel proper, in contravention of the Geneva Conventions, which forbid occupiers to transfer prisoners into the country…