Category: Palestinian politics

By Daoud Kuttab When Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told a German TV network that Iran would support Palestinians in whatever position they take, he was not making a new policy. Successive Iranian officials have made similar pronouncements. However, Zarif’s statement had a ring of credibility to it. After all, Zarif and his boss President Hassan Rouhani have been moderating…

By Daoud Kuttab When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially suggested the possibility of Jewish settlers to remain citizens of the Palestinian state, it was not clear whether this was a bluff or a serious proposal. While Palestinian negotiators were quick to reject the idea, it was members of the Israeli cabinet themselves who revealed the true intention…

By Daoud Kuttab When the American actress Scarlett Johansson was asked to become a global brand ambassador for SodaStream, she had little reason to object. After all, she had learned that the Israeli company gives fair and equal wages to its Israeli and Palestinian workers. Little did Johansson suspect that her cooperation — with a firm whose main factory is located…

By Daoud Kuttab The Dec. 15 visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry was cut short because of inclement weather. But Kerry, who brought with him four-star Gen. George Allen, has enough time to pass on the bad news. After Allen presented the US-designed security plan for the eastern borders of the future Palestinian state,…

By Daoud Kuttab Never in recent memory has any single issue or location unified Palestinians as much as the starvation of the besieged Yarmouk refugee camp just outside Damascus. The camp, one of the biggest in Syria, has been a target of the internal Syrian conflict, with some opposition forces holed up inside and government forces keeping a…

By Daoud Kuttab Following appeared in the Jordan Times and Huffington PostJewish settlements in the occupied territories are illegal. The whole world has said so.When the International Court of Justice in the Hague was asked for an opinion on the Israeli wall built deep into Palestinian territory, the ICJ reaffirmed that occupying powers are not…

  By Daoud Kuttab One of the key obstacles to permanent Israeli control of the West Bank is the presence of Palestinians in it. Unable to physically move them or have them leave voluntarily, Israel has over the years deployed an administrative process that is called “transfer.” The basic foundation of this racist policy is…

  By Daoud Kuttab Ever since the current Palestinian-Israeli negotiations commenced, all the leaked information about the talks focused on borders and whether Israeli soldiers will be present in the Jordan Valley. Israel’s demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state received a lot of coverage. But while the Palestinian refugee issue received scant coverage, one topic was…

  By Daoud Kuttab Although the United States has insisted to the Israelis and Palestinians that all five permanent-status issues are part of the US-brokered negotiations, it was only when an Israeli radio report mentioned the issue that the topic suddenly gained credibility in the eyes of many skeptics. The Palestine News Network ran a short translation from Israeli radio, confirming that US…

  By Daoud Kuttab Following appeared in today’s Jordan Times. How similar is today to yesteryear? When US president Bill Clinton failed to move Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman Yasser Arafat on the issue of Jerusalem at the 2000 Camp David talks, he decided to turn to America’s Arab allies. He tried and failed. US Secretary…