Bitterlemons International January 17, 2008 Edition 3 Volume 6
Syria and the Palestinians: A love-hate relationship

Daoud Kuttab

For an entire century, Syria has had a love-hate relationship with Palestinians. The Palestinian cause has been at the core of Syria’s ideological and political posture. The pan-Arab ideology always placed Palestine at the center of Greater Syria, and the ruling Syrian pan-Arab Baath Party followed the Palestinians in choosing a flag identical to that of early 20th century pan-Arabism. Regionally and internationally, Syria has supported Palestinians and the Palestinian position both rhetorically and in posturing within the anti-Camp David front, the non-aligned movement and in the UN.
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By Daoud Kuttab

At a time that world problems need an international leader, the single superpower in the world has been running away from a global leadership position. The hawkish and divisiveness of President Bush on political and environmental issues have alienated America in the eyes of the peoples of the world. But the upcoming US elections provide an opportunity for a change. Can the next US president be also a global president?
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from the Globe and Mail December 27, 2007
Backward, Christian soldiers, marching as to peace

Daoud Kuttab

During the run-up to the 1998 Christmas celebrations, U.S. president Bill Clinton, along with his wife, Hillary, and daughter, Chelsea, visited the Palestinian town of Bethlehem to light up the Christmas tree in Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity. With that symbolic visit, and the understanding that Mr. Clinton was showing to the needs of the region, Palestinians of all faiths had high hopes that the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict might soon end. It didn’t.
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Why Evangelical Support for Israel is shrinking?

By Daoud Kuttab

An unexpected result has emerged in the US following the one-day Annapolis meeting aimed at kick starting Palestinian Israeli negotiations. Christian Zionists admitted that their power has started to weaken. “The evangelical support for Israel is shrinking,” stated the Jerusalem Connection International in its latest newsletter entitled ”Post Annapolis where do we go from her?” Wikipedia says that Christian Zionism “is a belief among some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, is in accordance with Biblical prophecy and, furthermore, that bringing the Jews home will hasten the Second Coming.. This belief is primarily, though not exclusively, associated with Christian Dispensationalism, mainly in English-speaking countries outside Europe. British theologian and preacher John Nelson Darby who lived in England in the 19th century is regarded as the father of dispensationalism and its prodigy, Christian Zionism.
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Published in the Daily Princetonian 

By Daoud Kuttab
Guest Columnist     As Palestinian and Israeli leaders were meeting in the Annapolis Naval Base last week for yet another attempt at peacemaking, I remembered how my journalistic career led me to cover the Madrid peace conference back in 1991. I vividly remember how then-U.S. Secretary of State James Baker ’52 had kept everyone in the dark about the location of the international meeting. Once he declared Madrid as the site, many of us Palestinians felt a sense of jubilation at the looming discussions, yet the exact nature of the Palestinian delegation was also unknown until the last minute.

    While there are some differences, some issues are still the same. Continue Reading »

my interview with Chicago’s NPR public radio regarding the Annapolis conference http://chicagopublicradio.org/content.aspx?audioID=16052

By Daoud Kuttab

AMERICAN officials usually spend enormous energy highlighting the “process” in the Middle East “peace process.” Only in the last 18 months of a second term president or following a military engagement in the Middle East does the United States actually start to concern itself with “peace.”This pattern seems to be holding true for today’s US-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. The difference now is that, unlike the Madrid Conference after the 1991 American-led Gulf War, the current effort is coming after a perceived American defeat in Iraq.

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By Daoud Kuttab

Palestinians are facing a dilemma in regards to the upcoming Annapolis Arab-Israeli peace conference, or meeting as American officials prefers to call it. The dilemma is whether to participate in yet another process that has so far produced little tangible Continue Reading »

Pardon is not  part of the Israeli lexicon?

By Daoud Kuttab

I still remember that hot day in the summer of 1994 when Jordan’s King Hussein signed the peace treaty with Israel’s Yitshaq Rabin in Wadi Araba. I had gone down to cover the event and remember Buthina Duqmaq of the Mandella Institute for political prisoners reminding me that a number of Jordanian prisoners were still held in Israeli jails even though the two countries were signing a peace agreement.

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Down to earth in Gaza 

By Daoud Kuttab

My professional colleague Ayman Bardawil who was born and raised in the southern Gaza strip town of Rafah has been living in Ramallah ever since he attended Bir Zeit University where he got his civil engineering degree. In the past ten years Ayman, who has worked in television and specifically in animation, has visited his parents, siblings family and friends less than the fingers of his artistic hands. His request from the Israelis to visit Gaza were often rejected ‘because there is no compelling humanitarian reason.” When Ayman’s father lay terminally sick he did get a permission to visit. A day after he returned to Ramallah after his permit expired his father died and he was unable to travel. Ayman has since moved to Jordan but now instead of his wish to visit his family, his mother is looking for ways to escape Gaza.

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