For more than a year, my brother Jonathan and I have had a running disagreement over the viability of declaring a Palestinian state. He has repeatedly rejected the importance of declaring a Palestinian state under the current circumstances.

“A Palestinian state is an Israeli goal these days,” he would say to me and to anyone else who would listen. The kind of state that the Israelis are willing to allow us to have will do more to serve their purpose, by creating a buffer zone between them and the rest of the Arab world, and to announce once and for all that the conflict is over.

“They want to give us the symbolism of the state without the substance,” he would say. Continue Reading »

In the midst of hard negotiations about peace in the Middle East, an important factor is often ignored. The human factor.

For example, take the issue of Jerusalem. Negotiators are debating a host of creative ideas on the future of Jerusalem to bridge the gap between Palestinians and Israelis, but little attention is being given to the human tragedy that might result if 200,000 Palestinian suddenly find themselves cut off from their families, their jobs, and their homes.

Thirty-three years of Israeli occupation have made a number of changes to Jerusalem’s landscape, but the one change that Israel has failed to make is to cut off Palestinians in Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and Gaza.  Continue Reading »

Newsprint and airwaves are filled with suggestions that the two issues that might make or break the Camp David summit are Jerusalem and the refugees.

While President Arafat is sure to defend the Palestinian position that Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state, I do not believe that he will be able to sign any agreement on Jerusalem without having a much bigger Arab and Islamic coalition behind him. In effect any agreement on Jerusalem will need the direct or indirect approval of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Countries.  Continue Reading »

It is 12:30 p.m. on Friday, June 30 in Ramallah. Raji Saqr, an armed 29 year old from the nearby Amari refugee camp, enters the Duqmaq Butchery and asks for the owner. An elderly client sitting on a stool says that the owner went to pray in a nearby mosque. Who is around, the armed man asks? The old man informs him that only the owner’s daughter Ahlam is inside.

Raji goes behind the counter, fires a few rounds in the air, and then fires two bullets from close range into Ahlam’s chest.

The death of Ahlam Duqmaq turns the twin cities of Ramallah and Al Bireh and the nearby Al Amari refugee camp upside down. For the next three days a strike is observed, daily protests demand the death penalty for the killer, and youths ransack stores and advertising signs on roads.  Continue Reading »

The New Jordanian government headed by Ali Abul Ragheb has its hands full as it tries to tackle the many issues that King Abdullah has asked of it. The economy and liberalization are the two key issues that will take up most of the energy of the new administration. For the Jordanian economy to break out of the hibernation it is in, the economic relations with its two key neighbors must dramatically improve. Iraq and Palestine form the natural markets for Jordanian products and services. Continue Reading »

(June 15) – The death of Syrian leader Hafez Assad was not seen as a major cause for sadness in Palestinian circles. Except for the national airwaves (Palestine TV and Voice of Palestine) the private Palestinian radio and television stations went on with their regular programming of music, entertainment and news.

In the streets and cafes of Palestine the question on everyone’s lips was not so much on how the death of Assad will affect the peace process, but on Bashar Assad’s relations with the Palestinians.

The news of Arafat’s intended visit to Damascus to pay his respects to the Syrians, and later, the news that the Syrians agreed to welcome him, was seen as possibly the beginnings of a Palestinian-Syrian rapprochement.  Continue Reading »

The coming three months will witness a major push in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. A moment will come when the leaders of Israel and Palestine will have to choose peace or the continuation of the conflict. This could happen in a Camp David-like summit or a draft peace agreement most like to be presented to both sides by the Americans sometime in August.

Israel’s general decision-making process is well-known. It includes the mini-cabinet, cabinet, Knesset, and finally the referendum. What about the Palestinians? There is a mistaken impression that such decisions are restricted to one man.  True, the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, is the person who will ultimately make the final decision, but before he reaches a conclusion one way or another, a lot needs to happen and the opinions of many people, organizations, and countries will be involved.  Continue Reading »

With all its problems, the city of Jerusalem has a special charm about it. You feel it when walking into the Old City through the Damascus Gate or when you sit in a restaurant like the Pasha in Sheikh Jarrah.

This charm, however, is being distorted by the fact that one set of people, the Palestinians, are being excluded from deciding the city’s present or future. A simple look at the traffic on the roads in and out of Jerusalem can be the best test as to the status of Palestinians in this holy city.  Continue Reading »

Human rights was on my mind all this week both because of the international human rights film festival in Ramallah and because of the bombings of the power supply of three major Lebanese cities. But is human rights applicable only to individuals or is there a term for the collective rights of a people. Continue Reading »

The Palestinian Legislative Council last week by a small margin approved the annual budget for the year 2000. Twenty five legislatures (mostly government ministers) voted for and 18 voted against. The majority of the people’s representatives (55) avoided the session, to avoid pressure from the government to vote for a budget they don’t agree with. Continue Reading »