Freeze the settlement freeze
by Daoud Kuttab This cycle has become so bizarre and confusing that Palestinians are not sure whether they should hope for continued tensions with Israel (which usually means no new settlements) or for continued negotiations (which usually provide cover for building settlements) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to approve new Jewish settlements on the […]
Getting real about a Palestinian state
OPINION (LA Times) Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is moving the process forward. By Daoud Kuttab September 10, 2009 Writing From Ramallah, West Bank – Something different is happening among the Palestinians. Their political leaders and civil servants are spending more time planning for a Palestinian state than criticizing the Israelis for their intransigence. […]
Palestinian Nationalism
by Daoud Kuttab Palestinian nationalism has been a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, one cannot underestimate the important role it played in pulling together the Arab people of Palestine under a unified and clear national goal. But at a time when major countries in the world downplay nationalism in favour of regionalism, […]
A phone call from Prime Minister Fayyad
By Daoud Kuttab Except for a short encounter on a plane years ago, I had never met in person Salam Fayyad. I certainly didn’t have any communications with him before I wrote the piece praising his two year planhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/daoud-kuttab/fayyads-brilliant-two-yea_b_270253.html for Palestinian statehood. No one from his office had sent me a copy of the plan […]
Fayyad’s brillian two-year plan for Palestinian statehood
Palestinians have finally started to act in a different way. Instead of cursing the occupation, the new strategy is aimed at building up the desired Palestinian state. The idea is to force the Israeli to the negotiating table rather than beg them to come. The way to do that is to work for a state […]
Americans and Ramallah youths
Americans and Ramallah youth By Daoud Kuttab I had to rub my eyes a few times to be sure that what I was seeing was real. The setting was downtown Ramallah. The event, International Youth Day. The participants were wearing white T-shirts with logos on the front and back and blood red hats. The International […]
Fatah closer to becoming a political party
By Daoud Kuttab Fatah, the key Palestinian guerilla movement within the Palestine Liberation Organisation, moved one step closer to becoming a political party. Having held its sixth congress for the first time in the occupied territories, it would be hard to continue pretending to be a liberation movement. Officially, however, the over 2,000 delegates, representing […]
New guard replaces old in Fateh
It has taken 20 years, but the Palestinian Liberation Movement (Fateh) has finally held its sixth general conference allowing for a much-needed influx of new blood into the movement. The conference, which opened in Bethlehem on August 4, registers many historic firsts. It is the first conference of a liberation movement to be held within […]
A bittersweet victory
The announcement has been long awaited. The Israeli Airport Authority announced that starting August 4, the King Hussein Bridge (sometimes referred to as Allenby Bridge) will be open daily till midnight on a 60-day experimental basis. Ever since the outbreak of Al Aqsa Intifada, the Palestinian police that were stationed at the bridge as part […]
Unpublished letter to NYTimes editor
to the editor of the NY times It is nice to read Ethan Bronner’s positive piece “Signs of Hope emerges in West Bank” (NYT July 17). However, Bronner makes a mistake in the order of things. He states ” For the first time since the second Palestinian uprising broke out in late 2000, leading to […]