Category: Palestinian politics

Following appeared in the Jordan Times newspaper By Daoud Kuttab Israel is heavily engaged in two international cases. The international efforts to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, and world’s desire to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. While the nuclear issue appears to be on its way to being resolved, there is concern that a…

By Daoud Kuttab No one is saying it out loud, but it appears that the Palestinian leadership is choosing to pursue the settlement track rather than the Gaza track in the war crimes efforts against Israel. Palestinians have publicly talked about pursuing in the International Criminal Court (ICC) war crime cases against Israel for the deaths…

By Daoud Kuttab The state of Palestine officially became a member of the International Criminal Court April1 allowing it to sue Israel for crimes of war. The distance between the ability to sue and an actual conviction is going to be long and arduous and will require a totally new strategy. And such a strategy…

By Daoud Kuttab Pundits are wondering why two statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to the Israeli elections and on the day of the elections drew so much attention. After the elections, Republican leader and former presidential contender John McCaintold US president Barack Obama to “get over your temper tantrum.” For Israel supporters…

By Daoud Kuttab Many might be surprised in the coming weeks and months with the charm offensive likely to be launched by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli right-wing leader won election over his opponent Isaac Herzog, mostly because of Netanyahu’s opposition to Palestinian statehood and racist rhetoric about Arab voter turnout. Netanyahu’s Likud Party…

By Daoud Kuttab Weeks before the results of the Israeli elections were known, the Palestine Central Council (PCC) met in Ramallah to decide on the Palestinian strategy. Somehow anticipating a continuation or a shift to the hard right, the council resolved on March 5 to give Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the mandate to suspend security cooperation…

By Daoud Kuttab AMMAN — The Israeli electorate had a choice to make. By re-electing a leader whopublicly reneged on his commitments to peace and a two-state solution, they voted against peace. What remains now is how the Palestinians and the world will react to the closure of the charade that was called the peace…

By Daoud Kuttab The largest Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank is boiling, and the troubles that are usually confined to the Balata camp are now spilling outward, with the main Ramallah-Nablus road blocked by protesters. Continuous gunshots can be heard from the camp, travelers on the road told Al-Monitor. The camp has been…

By Daoud Kuttab When “Mahmoud” won a scholarship to get his Ph.D. from a US university, he was ambivalent. After all, he had always been politically opposed to the Americans because of their foreign policy even though he was impressed by their democracy. In fact, Mahmoud, a lecturer on media ethics who asked to use a pseudonym because of the sensitivity…

By Daoud Kuttab A headline featured on the website of Al-Quds, a Palestinian daily, was very clear: “The decision of the Palestinian Central Council means the end of the Oslo era.” The headline was taken from a quote by council member Mustafa Barghouti of Al-Mubadara Party, following the conclusion of the council’s two-day meeting March…