Category: Palestinian politics

The demand by the Obama administration for the Israelis to fully and completely freeze all settlement activities has become a point of contention between the US and Israel for a number of reasons. Jewish settlements built on lands occupied by Israel in 1967 is considered by the international community to be totally illegal and in…

by Daoud Kuttab As the summit between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approaches, most of the discussion has focused on whether or not the newly elected Israeli leader will finally say that he backs a two-state solution. This is the wrong approach. Israelis should not determine the status of the…

Following appeared in the Jordan Times The right to free movement By Daoud Kuttab In observing decades-old conflicts, political spin takes overrides reality. Facts are often replaced by claims and counterclaims leaving a neutral observer confused as to who is wrong and who is right. Sometimes, a new story is much more revealing than the…

A PALESTINIAN VIEW Too good to last by Daoud Kuttab It was quite astonishing to hear world leaders so gushing in their praise for Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The western-trained former World Bank official was variously described as “professional”, “transparent” and “effective”. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton managed to combine all these comments in…

This appeared in the Huffington Post on January 7,2009 Arab Journalists and the war on Gaza by Daoud Kuttab This was a hard week for me being asked on more than one occasion to choose between being a professional journalist and being a patriotic Palestinian. As a bilingual observer one is completely frustrated when following…

The following appeared in the Jordan Times and Huffington Post It’s the occupation Stupid by Daoud Kuttab Following the words and efforts of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Sharm el Sheikh, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ramallah one gets the feeling that she was on a hard-sell campaign trying to convince the majority of…

By Daoud Kuttab The United States Middle East policy appears to be slowly but gradually changing. US officials are beginning a charm offensive following a successful four day tour in the region for the new secretary of state. In a briefing by Jeffery Feltman the newly appointed Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East,…

For the first time since the Hamas takeover in June 2007, Palestinian national unity talks have a better chance of success than in previous times, and the Gaza situation is probably the reason. This optimistic prediction can turn out terribly wrong, but I think the time is now ripe: the parties are much more realistic…

by Daoud Kuttab The biggest national concern of Palestinians today is to make sure that the Israeli attempts to split Gaza from the West Bank doesn’t become permanent. Egypt and the Palestinian Authority have been made to look bad in the eyes of the Arab world because of their refusal to fall for the trap…

If there is one thing that Israelis and Palestinians agree to these days, it is on the need to keep civilians out of the decades-old conflict. Unfortunately, neither Hamas nor Israel has done that. Israel has clearly and unapologetically punished Palestinian civilians, especially those in Gaza, killing, maiming and holding them hostage. Hamas did not…