Sep
30
2012
By Daoud Kuttab
For the second time in less than three months a leader of a major US party stereotypes Palestinians in racists and anti peace terms. The revelation of Mitt Romney’s foreign policy attitudes towards Palestinians sheds light on the gap between declared policies and the truth. In Jerusalem this summer Romney described to his fat cat funders that Palestinian culture is the reason that they are so much inferior to Israelis/Jews because the latter’s per capita is much bigger than that of Palestinians. No indication was made that Palestinians live under a four decade old military occupation.
A similar stereotypical attitude was expressed last May when Romney addressed his funders in the US. A secretly taped conversation at a fundraiser with the Republican nominee shows a total rejection by Romney to his party’s and the general US and world policy in support of a two state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Continue Reading »
Aug
16
2012
By Daoud Kuttab
The presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president, Mitt Romney, gave himself the authority to declare a cultural war in West Jerusalem this week.
As part of his efforts to woo wealthy Jewish donors to contribute to his campaign, he declared that nations are better off because of culture and indirectly suggested that Israel be added to America’s exceptionalism theory. Continue Reading »
Apr
13
2012
By Daoud Kuttab
Easter is celebrated in Jerusalem and surrounding Palestinians cities both religiously and culturally. Children wave beautifully weaved palm leaves on Palm Sunday, Boy Scout-led marches celebrate Sabt el Noor (Holy Fire), when the light comes out of the Church of the Holy Seplechure and is welcomed with marching bands in towns with Palestinian Christian populations such as Ramallah, Bethlehem Zababdeh, Abood and Nablus.
Continue Reading »
Mar
28
2012
By Daoud Kuttab
The U.S. president and the executive branch have the most significant role in making foreign policy and are responsible for carrying it out.
Congress has the right to approve, recommend or reject foreign aid bills submitted to it, but it rarely blatantly opposes the executive branch’s foreign policy decisions.
Regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, American policy appears to have been uniform by both parties. In the past two decades, the U.S. has been clearly in of the two-state solution as the bedrock of America’s foreign policy. Such a policy is translated in political and diplomatic terms, as well as in the details of its foreign aid. Continue Reading »
Mar
27
2012
By Daoud Kuttab
For the second year running a unique event took place in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem this week. Christian evangelicals that many consider as most ardent supporters for Israel (often more so than many Israelis) were guests of a Palestinian Christian gathering.
The “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference, sponsored by Bethlehem Bible College, hosted over 600 evangelicals from around the world, but primarily from the US. Among the leading evangelicals attending this Palestinian-sponsored event were Rev. Joel Hunter, the spiritual adviser to US President Barack Obama, theologian Tony Campollo, social activists Ron Sider and Lyn Hybes, British pastor Stephen Sizer, community leader Shahen Claiborne, Messianic leader Wayne Hilsden and Asian reverend Sang-Bok David Kim. Continue Reading »
Jan
02
2012
by Daoud Kuttab
Three years ago the Israeli army initiated a major military offensive against the people of the Gaza strip with the aim of stopping the shelling from Gaza and the release of one of their soldiers that was held in the strip. Over 1,400 Palestinians, many of them women and children, were killed, thousands were injured, and public, private and internationally owned properties were damaged as a result of the attack that came from land, sea and air. Continue Reading »
Dec
15
2011
By Daoud Kuttab
Prime minister of Israel at the time Yitzhak Rabin, wrote to Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman Yasser Arafat: “In response to your letter of September 9, 1993, I wish to confirm to you that, in light of the PLO commitments included in your letter, the government of Israel has decided to recognise the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and commence negotiations with the PLO within the Middle East peace process.â€
Continue Reading »
Dec
01
2011
By Daoud Kuttab
Leaders have a habit of creating expectations for their people; these are higher in the case of groups that suffer from injustice.
Not wanting to set precise time limits, leaders sometimes say elections will take place in the winter of the coming year, in the first half of the following year, and similar such vague dates. Continue Reading »
Dec
01
2011
 
 By Daoud Kuttab
 RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
Few in Washington may realize that the issue of U.S. funding for Palestine is the talk of the town in Ramallah and other Palestinian cities. And the talk is not pleasant.
 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been telling aides that he plans to reject some $150 million in federal money earmarked for Palestinian security.
Abbas’s opposition is principled. The funds are part of an $800 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development that Congress appropriated in June 2009. Shortly before the funds were disbursed this summer, however, the larger grant was held up by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. A Republican from Florida, Ros-Lehtinen, now chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, placed an informational hold on this budgetary line item in August. It is her prerogative to do so as a member of Congress. But rather than delay the funds to investigate a concern, the hold was meant as punishment — a warning to the Palestinian Authority not to seek recognition as an independent state at the United Nations General Assembly meeting the following month. Continue Reading »
Nov
17
2011
By Daoud Kuttab
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said this week that he was quite happy to step down from his position in order to remove any obstacle in the way of Palestinian reconciliation.
It is not the first time he made such a statement, but this time it is politically important, and timely.
Fayyad’s statement comes as PLO’s efforts at the UN Security Council failed to produce any positive results and talks of reconciliation have once again heated up. Continue Reading »