PA’s Abbas moves toward creating vice presidency
By Daoud Kuttab The most essential role of the position of a vice president is to allow for a smooth transition in case the president becomes incapacitated. In many autocratic systems, presidents are afraid to appoint a vice president precisely for that reason. Palestine had not been an exception to this, until now. Abbas was elected Palestinian president in […]
Palestinian foreign minister open to Iran visit
By Daoud Kuttab Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki is willing to visit Iran if he receives an official invitation. In an exclusive interview, he told Al-Monitor: “If an official invitation is directed to me, I will accept it. If they choose to invite the president, I would go and prepare for such an official visit.†Concerning […]
Egyptian Revolution Will Fail if the Press Is Not Free
By Daoud Kuttab I was part of a delegation of the International Press Institute that visited the Egyptian capital last week to try and plead the case of some 12 Egyptian and foreign journalists who are being held behind bars. The new powers in Egypt seem to have very little tolerance for anyone with an opinion that is not […]
Jordan skeptical of US-led peace plan
By Daoud Kuttab Jordan, which shares the longest border with the Palestinian occupied territories and hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees, is feeling the pressure of a possible US-led breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The Jordanian government has been sending mixed signals lately in regard to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace mission. On the […]
Abbas keeps options open with gesture to Iran
By Daoud Kuttab When Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told a German TV network that Iran would support Palestinians in whatever position they take, he was not making a new policy. Successive Iranian officials have made similar pronouncements. However, Zarif’s statement had a ring of credibility to it. After all, Zarif and his boss President Hassan Rouhani have been moderating […]
Jews could be welcomed in future Palestinian state
By Daoud Kuttab When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially suggested the possibility of Jewish settlers to remain citizens of the Palestinian state, it was not clear whether this was a bluff or a serious proposal. While Palestinian negotiators were quick to reject the idea, it was members of the Israeli cabinet themselves who revealed the true intention […]
Johansson, SodaStream row bolstering Palestinian cause?
By Daoud Kuttab When the American actress Scarlett Johansson was asked to become a global brand ambassador for SodaStream, she had little reason to object. After all, she had learned that the Israeli company gives fair and equal wages to its Israeli and Palestinian workers. Little did Johansson suspect that her cooperation — with a firm whose main factory is located […]
Abbas backs NATO peacekeeping role after Israeli withdrawal
By Daoud Kuttab The Dec. 15 visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry was cut short because of inclement weather. But Kerry, who brought with him four-star Gen. George Allen, has enough time to pass on the bad news. After Allen presented the US-designed security plan for the eastern borders of the future Palestinian state, […]
Crisis in Yarmouk camp in Syria unites Palestinians
By Daoud Kuttab Never in recent memory has any single issue or location unified Palestinians as much as the starvation of the besieged Yarmouk refugee camp just outside Damascus. The camp, one of the biggest in Syria, has been a target of the internal Syrian conflict, with some opposition forces holed up inside and government forces keeping a […]
Will Palestinians accept Jewish settlers in Palestine?
By Daoud Kuttab Following appeared in the Jordan Times and Huffington PostJewish settlements in the occupied territories are illegal. The whole world has said so.When the International Court of Justice in the Hague was asked for an opinion on the Israeli wall built deep into Palestinian territory, the ICJ reaffirmed that occupying powers are not […]