Palestine, media, Jordan, community radio, online journalism
This is a personal story of the discrimination we faced trying to get a residency ID issued for our daughter By Daoud Kuttab My wife and I were born in east Jerusalem before Israel’s 1967 occupation of the city. Our youngest daughter, Dina, was also born in Jerusalem. We have kept a home in Jerusalem,…
By Daoud Kuttab In the week before President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 22, a number of Palestinians were shot and killed or injured by Israeli soldiers. On Sept. 20, Hazem Kawasmi, a Palestinian activist, made a profoundly insightful statement on his Facebook page: “We are neither in an intifada nor are we involved in civil…
By Daoud Kuttab When the Palestinian High Court of Justice decided Sept. 7 to suspend the Oct. 8 municipal elections, it caught many people off guard. The Palestinian legislature has been paralyzed since 2007 because of the split between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and few expected any independent action of the Palestinian judiciary. Many asked the simple…
By Daoud Kuttab When Khaled Kalaldeh, the head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), spoke at the close of the day’s voting, those in attendance were stunned: “Eight voting boxes in the Central Badiya were tampered with and we plan to have a revote in those areas.†Journalists attending the closing press conference of a…
By Daoud Kuttab In a long interview with Egyptian ONTV Sept. 1, Jibril Rajoub, the head of the Palestinian Football Association, appeared to ridicule Palestinian Christians. Almost a week later, on Sept. 6, Rajoub insisted in an interview on Al-Quds TV that when he referred to the “Merry Christmas people,†he was merely being jovial….
       By Daoud Kuttab While addressing mourners for the loss of his mother in Jordan, Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal highly praised Jordan and Jordanian officials, and then spoke of a four-step approach to change the balance of power that is currently crushing Palestinians. Mishaal, who along with Jordanian leaders of…
By Daoud Kuttab Like many Israeli officials, whenever Nir Barkat, the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, wants to make a political splash among Israeli voters, he turns to the Palestinian arena, which is the gift that keeps giving. In April 2013, when Barkat was running for a second mayoral term, he turned to the Palestinian sector…
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…
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…
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…