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May 19 2006
Daoud Kuttab
Until a few days ago, the sign stood majestically on the broken up Ramallah-Jerusalem road near the Qalandia refugee camp. With the USAID logo and the motto “Gift from the American People”, the sign informed all travelling on this congested and totally broken up 19th century artery that will soon become a proper 21st century highway. Continue Reading »
Apr 08 2006
By Daoud Kuttab
Although it appears that the political stalemate continues on the Palestinian-Israeli front, a possible breakthrough seems closer than in the past. Various pieces of the puzzle appear to be falling into place following the Palestinian and Israeli elections. Continue Reading »
Feb 17 2006
The following appeared in the American paper Newsday
BY DAOUD KUTTAB
February 6, 2006
The victory of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas in the Palestinian legislative elections should not cause panic in Western capitals.
It is the natural result of the push for democracy in the Mideast and the failure of governance and transparency in pro-Western Arab regimes. Commitment to democracy requires respect for the choice of the people, no matter what that choice is. Victory for Hamas will, of course, be a test of the movement’s ability to deal pragmatically with the many challenges facing the Palestinian people. Continue Reading »
Jan 06 2006
Daoud Kuttab
The Palestinian legislative elections will probably take place on Jan. 25, thanks in no small a degree to Hamas.
For some time it looked like Israeli hesitation regarding the participation of East Jerusalem residents in the elections would be the kind of excuse that many in the ruling Fateh movement were looking for in order to postpone the elections. Eight members of the central committee of Fateh even signed an appeal to President Mahmoud Abbas asking for a delay. Continue Reading »
Dec 21 2005
Integrating Hamas into the political mainstream will contribute in deescalating the cycle of violence
By: Daoud Kuttab*
Ramallah – On the surface of it, the resolution of the US congress and the statements of Javier Solana of the EU threatening to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority if it allows the Islamic movement “Hamas†to participate in the upcoming legislative elections seems in tune with the west’s anti terror policy. But the fact is that the resolution demands of Palestinians more than what the Israeli government the EU and the US administrations have demanded. Congress and Solana have missed the ball and have clearly taken sides in this conflict. Continue Reading »
Dec 16 2005
Daoud Kuttab
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is not in a comfortable position these days. He seems like a nice, fatherly figure in not so nice a neighbourhood. He heads a party (or a movement) which has last held a congress of its activists more than 15 years ago.
He is caught between old leaders, most of whom came to Palestine from abroad, and new leaders who had been part of the Intifada. He is the commander in chief who is unable to secure and protect the Central Election Commission offices. He has an Israeli counterpart who pays little attention to him despite his repeated position against the militarisation of the Intifada. Continue Reading »
Dec 09 2005
Courage In Their Coverage
By David Ignatius
DUBAI — Talking with brave Arab journalists such as Hussein Shobokshi, I hear the passion that animates good reporting everywhere. And it makes me all the more disgusted by recent revelations that my own government has been corrupting the nascent Iraqi free press by planting stories.
Shobokshi was fired by the Jiddah daily paper Okaz in 2003 after he wrote a column imagining a democratic Saudi future in which his daughter could drive, leaders were elected and the budget was public. This June he was attacked for writing a column in Asharq al-Awsat titled, “Why Do We Hate the Jews?” He described “a very noble and polite” Jewish doctor in America who had treated his young nephew for a rare cancer, and he asked why Saudis were encouraged “to hate Jews and pray against them, too.” Continue Reading »
Dec 02 2005
Daoud Kuttab
What has been expected for some time has finally materialized. The leading Palestinian national movement, Fatah, is coming of age as a political party rather than a national movement.
The on-again, off-again Fatah primaries have revealed the movement’s chaos in the aftermath both of the loss of its historic leader and the long-overdue convening of the sixth general assembly. While Palestine has witnessed presidential elections and, very belatedly, municipal elections, neither do as much to revive the blood of the body politic as parliamentary elections. The legislative elections due late in January will be only the second such balloting in Palestine’s history. Continue Reading »
Nov 27 2005
By Daoud Kuttab
Contrary to impulsive thinking, the real challenge to Jordan following the triple hotel bombing is not a security one. Blessed with a strong internal security apparatus, and a relatively homogeneous population, Jordan’s King Abdullah II has few strategic security issues to worry about. His real challenge is a socioeconomic one. Continue Reading »
Nov 27 2005
The Palestinian Israeli conflict is very strange. It has lasted so long that public opinion has lost its power to affect policy or leaders’ decision making. No matter what the Palestinian or Israeli public wants, what happens on the ground and in decision making circles in Tel Aviv and Ramallah rarely reflects public opinion. Continue Reading »