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Apr 21 2006
By Daoud Kuttab
Two months before the Palestinian election, I met in Ramallah with Hassan Yousef, a senior West Bank leader of Hamas. Talking to him before he began an interview on our Ramallah TV station about the upcoming elections, Yousef told me that it would be wrong for Hamas to win more than 25 per cent of the Palestinian Legislative Council seats. Continue Reading »
Mar 24 2006
Daoud Kuttab
For the first time in Palestinian history, Jerusalem has a minister: Khaled Abu Arafeh, a businessman from East Jerusalem who worked as a mechanical engineer until he took over the family hardware store just off Salah Eddine street. This is not to say that Palestinians didn’t pay attention to their declared capital before the Islamic Hamas movement decided to create a separate ministry for the affairs of Jerusalem and its Palestinian Arab residents. Before Abu Arafeh, Faisal Husseini had been a de facto minister of the city. Continue Reading »
Mar 21 2006
Hamas has a government, so now what?
By Daoud Kuttab
Having just formed a Palestinian government, Hamas seems to be clutching to the Biblical verses in Ecclesiastes rather than the desires of the “Quartet” (the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations) charged with trying to bridge the Israeli-Palestinian divide. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven,” fits Hamas’ current agenda because its priorities and timeframe are different from those of the international community, which is pressing it to make immediate political declarations – most importantly, to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Continue Reading »
Mar 16 2006
By Daoud Kuttab
March 9, 2006
I paid through my nose this week to get from Ramallah to Amman and the bridge wasn’t crowded like in the summer time.
It all started when I had to make an appointment at 2pm in Ramallah. The meeting went till 2:30 and by the time I took a taxi (for 20 shekes) to the Qalandia checkpoint it was already 2:45. The line was not long but by the time I got out it was already close to 3. I hailed a taxi and haggled him to the normal price of 150 shekels. Continue Reading »
Mar 10 2006
While Palestinians have regularly celebrated the International Women’s Day on March 8, celebrations this year had a different taste. The victory of the conservative Islamic movement Hamas has reinvigorated Palestinian civil society in general and the women’s movement in particular. This year’s pro-women march in Ramallah, which ended with a meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas, was well attended, by nearly a thousand women, interestingly many of them with headscarves. Continue Reading »
Feb 28 2006
On the surface, the landslide victory of Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement, in Palestinian legislative elections in January has not reflected directly on democracy in Jordan or the wider Arab world. But there is no doubt this political earthquake will eventually be considered an important milestone by Arab democracy activists. Continue Reading »
Feb 24 2006
Daoud Kuttab
I am an enthusiastic supporter of President George Bush’s (anybody else’s, for that matter) mission to spread democracy. I would argue, as Bush has done, that this is the most natural yearning of all peoples. My problem is that the US and its lead regional ally seem to stop short of their zeal for democracy once the results don’t please them. Continue Reading »
Feb 10 2006
The following appeared in the Jordan Times
Daoud Kuttab
The results of the Palestinian elections continue to reverberate throughout the occupied territories, with a surprising positive reaction even from many liberal circles. With some of the information about the campaign and the mood of the Palestinians becoming known, it is clear that connecting the Palestinian Authority with corruption was clearly one of the main reasons for the success of Hamas. Continue Reading »
Jan 12 2006
An open letter to Ehud Olmert
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Daoud Kuttab, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 11, 2006
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Dear Mr. Olmert – I am writing you in the hope that you will take time from your busy schedule as Israel’s acting prime minister to hear one Palestinian’s hopes.
Even though your ascension to the position of prime minister came in an awkward way because of Ariel Sharon’s stroke, I believe that you have an opportunity to be part of a historic reconciliation. While I am sure you will insist that you are going to follow in the political legacy of Sharon, you have some important advantages with Palestinians that Sharon did not have. Continue Reading »
Jan 09 2006
By DAOUD KUTTAB
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan. 8 (UPI) — Political changes in Palestine and Israel, as well as changes in attitudes in both societies and in the international community, provide a rare glimmer of hope that important changes on the ground are a serious possibility. Continue Reading »