By: Daoud Kuttab*

The biggest question in the upcoming elections for the Palestinian legislature is not how many seats Hamas will win. Nor are people questioning how the mixed elections (district and national) will play out. The real question on most Palestinian’s lips these days is who will represent the leading Palestinian party (movement). Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The mood is becoming upbeat in Palestine these days. Election fever is building up as December and January are expecting important polls. Major Palestinian cities, like Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron,Gaza , Jenin, Rafah, are due to elect mayors and city councils in December. The following month, the entire Palestinian public is due to elect a new legislative council. The city elections will be the first since 1976, legislative elections are the first since 1995. All city mayors in office today are appointed rather than elected. Legislators have been in office for ten years. Continue Reading »

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Journalists and the plague of being identified with interviews

By Daoud Kuttab

It has always been a problem for journalists: how to carry on the profession of journalism without being accused of sympathizing with the person you are covering. Every journalist who covers a conflict can’t help but have some sympathies for his subject. Internationally famous New York Times columnist Tom Friedman once told me that a good journalist always shows his subject that he is genuinely interested in what he is saying. You have to give the person you are interviewing the feeling that you are hanging on every word he or she is saying, he explained. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

It has always been a problem for journalists. How to carry on the profession of journalism without being accused of sympathizing with the person you are covering. Ever journalist who covers a conflict can’t help but have some sympathizes for his subject. Internationally famous columnists Tom Friedman once told me that a good journalist always shows his subject that he is genuinely interested in what he is saying. You have to give the person you are interviewing the feeling that you are handing on every word he or she is saying, he explained. Continue Reading »

by Daoud Kuttab

Some of the speakers and participants said a conference called for by the Palestinian Authority to discuss how to have an effective public relations campaign was tens of years overdue.

Titled “Talking to the world”, the invitation was issued by Information Minister Nabil Shaath and attended by the top public and private brass of the Palestinians, including President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian journalists and media activists. Held in Ramallah, the two-day conference reviewed the political scene in America, Europe and Israel. Continue Reading »

by Daoud Kuttab

The world community has suddenly become interested in the media scene in the Arab world. It is not clear whether this is a result of the success enjoyed by some Arab satellites or simply an attempt to find a way to win the hearts and minds of Arabs and Muslims, as part of the West’s “war on terror”. Major countries, among them the US, Sweden, UK, EU, are pouring millions of dollars supposedly towards making the Arab media more independent, and media groups are coming together to see what are the needs of the media in this region of the world. For those of us struggling for independent media in this area, this is generally good news, although we must be aware of the many pitfalls that can accompany such an abrupt interest in this sector. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

As was predicted, the Israeli government is moving quickly to absolve itself of any and all responsibility for the people of the Gaza Strip. The latest sign of this has been the order signed by the Minister of Interior Ophir Pines declaring Gaza foreign territories and, as a consequence, the four Israeli checkpoints with Gaza international borders. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

For 37 years, Israel has consistently rejected Palestinians’ and the world view that the status of the areas its military took in 1967 was occupied. When Israel was not using the biblical terms of Judea and Samaria (to refer to the West Bank) they used the terms “administered territories” or “disputed territories”. That is until now. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Ramallah – In the mid-80s Meron Benvenisti, an Israeli researcher on the West Bank and Gaza, came up with the term irreversibility when referring to the difficulty that will be met to reverse the trend of Jewish settlement activities in the Palestinian territories. His concept, which was well intended and has a lot of merit, has been dealt a blow by the Israeli government and army. Continue Reading »

In the mid-80s Meron Benvenisti, an Israeli researcher on the West Bank and Gaza, came up with the term irreversibility when referring to the difficulty that will be met to reverse the trend of Jewish settlement activities in the Palestinian territories. His concept, which was well intended and has a lot of merit, has been dealt a blow by the Israeli government and army. Continue Reading »