Nov
10
2011
By Daoud Kuttab
If the UN bid for Palestinian statehood has shown anything, it has shown the Palestinians, again, who their friends are.
It was clear, despite US President Barack Obama’s earlier rhetoric, that US would not move in any direction that would upset the Israelis. But it was not only Washington and the British (Tony Blair and David Cameron); it was also the French who are nowhere close to being the true friends of Palestine. Continue Reading »
Oct
13
2011
By Daoud Kuttab
Haroon Abu Araa has come a long way. In the 15 years I have known him, I have seen the transformation and maturity, from a radical university student activist to his present day position as director of Al Quds Educational Television in Ramallah.
He took me this week on a tour of the media lab at Al Quds University that was funded last year by USAID. He proudly explained how 450 media students at the university would benefit from this high-tech lab and made sure to tell the visitors that local companies helped by supplying furniture for the media lab. Continue Reading »
Jul
28
2011
By Daoud Kuttab
If anyone outside Palestine had doubts that the Palestinian Authority was hesitant about going to the UN to request the recognition of Palestine as a full member, a trip to Ramallah would quickly put an end to this scepticism. Ramallah’s hotels are full of members of the Palestine Central Council (the second highest representative body in Palestinian politics after the Palestine National Council). PNC Speaker Salim Zannoun has held meetings in Amman, Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah in preparation for a crucial ?entral council meeting in Ramallah this week. The leading independent daily published in Ramallah, Al Ayyam boasts a colourful map of the world with 122 flags representing world countries that have indicated that they will vote for Palestine to be a full member. Continue Reading »
Apr
14
2011
By Daoud Kuttab
The past few months have seen no anti-American demonstrations and no burning of US flags across the Arab world. Arabs seem increasingly willing to accept – and even applaud – the Obama administration’s policy towards the region.
Of course, Arabs are still unhappy with the continued US bias in favour of Israel. Its inability to end the 44-year military occupation of Palestinian lands has not gone unnoticed. But many Arabs nowadays prefer to give the US a break. Continue Reading »
Feb
20
2011
By Daoud Kuttab
US President Barack Obama was on the right side of history when he supported the young, nonviolent protesters in Egypt, but his administration will go down in history as unjust after Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, vetoed, on Friday, a UN Security Council resolution condemning Jewish settlements illegally build on Palestinians’ lands.
The resolution, supported by 14 countries, including US allies, repeated the exact same language that the Obama administration had used with the Israelis and the Palestinians. Calling Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal merely reflects reality according to international law. The World Court at the Hague has said that Israel’s activities in the occupied territories are illegal. Continue Reading »
Feb
19
2011
By Daoud Kuttab
President Obama was on the right side of history when he supported the young nonviolent protestors in Egypt. The Obama administration was on the wrong side of history when Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN raised her hand vetoing a UN Security Council resolution condemning Jewish settlements. The resolution supported by 14 countries including US allies repeated the exact same language that the Obama administration has said to the Israelis, to the Palestinians and to the public. Calling Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal is reflecting the reality of international law. The World Court at the Haguehas said that Israel’s activities in the occupied territories are illegal. Continue Reading »
Jan
13
2011
By Daoud Kuttab
The choices facing Palestinian leaders as they try to navigate their responsibilities while the 44-year-long Israeli occupation continues are difficult.
Some Palestinian activists of the Islamic Hamas movement were detained by the Abbas-Fayyad government in a general crackdown against armed resistance movements that sees attempts by the Palestinian Authority to apply the rule of law in the occupied territories as part of the Palestinian leadership’s commitment to the international community. Of course, in return for this, the Israelis were obliged (according to the roadmap) to freeze all settlement activities as the two parties prepare for peace talks that are aimed at ending the occupation and creating an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state. Continue Reading »
Nov
25
2010
By Daoud Kuttab
The secret talks between US and Israeli officials, aiming at convincing the Israelis to change their position regarding the settlement freeze, started to smell more and more like a bribe, with some media reports calling it the $3 billion bribe.
The amount is in reference to the cost of the 20 advanced US fighter planes that the Obama administration is promising to give Israel in return for the Netanyahu government’s agreeing to a mere three-month freeze of illegal settlements on Palestinian land. Continue Reading »
Jul
21
2010
(This was published in July 21st 2010)
By Daoud Kuttab
With little fanfare in Washington and with few countries in the world noticing, President Barack Obama signed into law an act that will hold governments all around the world accountable for violations of human rights. Continue Reading »
Feb
23
2007
Daoud Kuttab
It is pleasant yet sad to see the Israelis and the Americans squirming. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has flip-flopped from opposing the Mecca agreement to stating that his government neither supports nor opposes the accord, to his latest attempts to bypass US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by going to her boss to insist on the boycott of the yet to be established national unity government.
The Mecca agreement represents a clear shift in the Islamic Hamas movement from the Iranian-Syria axis to the Saudi side. In response, the head of the US diplomacy is complaining that this agreement complicates things.
Continue Reading »