By Daoud Kuttab

A liberation organization was established in the early summer of 1964. Since then it has gone through shifts of ideological direction as well as leadership changes. Change is expected again.

With support and encouragement from the Arab League, the Palestine Liberation Organization was established with the goal to liberate Palestine and to ensure the return of Palestinian refugees.

Palestinian delegates attending the official launching session at the Intercontinental Hotel on the Mount of Olives elected on June 10, 1964, Ahmad Shukeri as its first chairman. Since then the PLO has witnessed a successful bid by guerrilla fighters to take it over as well as attempts to split it, weaken it or diverge it from its publicly stated goal of being the arm of the liberation of Palestine. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Officials in the Palestine Liberation Organization have confirmed that the leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) — currently based in Syria — is asking once more for a chance to come to the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

Nayef Hawatmeh, born in the Jordanian city of Salt in 1938, has led the DFLP since 1969, but has not yet been able to visit Palestine even though his PLO faction is allowed to work there. Since the PLO and Israel exchanged letters of recognition in 1993, Hawatmeh, along with other Palestinian leaders, was granted a national ID card that technically allows him to enter into Palestinian areas. After the signing of the Oslo Accords, Hawatmeh refused to enter the OPT, criticizing the agreement reached in secret in the Norwegian capital a “sell out.” Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Just when it appeared that the United States was about to wash its hands from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, new information is emerging from Washington indicating the opposite.

Many observers of U.S. foreign policy understand that in an election year, the U.S. is unable to articulate a coherent (and possibly confrontational with the pro-Israel lobby) strategy in regards to the Palestinian conflict.  The day after President Barack Obama won a hard-fought electoral battle in which the Israeli prime minister clearly and publicly favored his opponent, many expected that the U.S. president would immediately shift to a more genuinely neutral policy towards the Middle East conflict. That may still happen, but foreign policy, like everything else, can’t be carried out without a well thought-out strategy, action plan and most importantly individuals who will carry the baton and implement it. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

It was no coincidence that Israeli representatives boycotted the Jan. 29 meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, at which Israel’s record was to be reviewed. They had been aware for months that a three-person fact-finding mission headed by French judge Christine Chanet would be extremely critical of Israel. In fact, according to press reports, the Israelis had sought, and were granted, a delay in the publication of the mission’s report until after elections in Israel held Jan. 22. The report identifies Israel’s ongoing settlement activity as a serious breach of international humanitarian law and calls on Israel to withdraw all Jewish settlers from the occupied territories. One member of the mission details Israeli violations since 1967. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

As if the Palestinian people didn’t have enough problems with the occupation and the political splits, we are now experiencing a new controversy, this time a social one.

The problem began last Sunday, Jan. 27, when the board of trustees of Al Aqsa University voted unanimously to impose a “dress code” on female students. The new guidelines include that in addition to the head cover (hijab), all female students must wear the jilbab — the long loose jacket-like cover that extends to the feet, thus not showing any curves in the woman’s body. While this appears to be a binding decision, the statement from the university said that no punishment will be given to those refusing to comply with the dress-code order, but that attempts to change such students’ behavior will be applied through “persuasion” rather than punishment. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

After months of discussions and debates, the parliamentary election season in Jordan is finally upon us, and it exposes numerous flaws and weaknesses.

Jordanians spent the better part of 2012 arguing about the best elections law for the country. In the aftermath of the Jordanian Arab Spring, many wanted an elections law that can usher in a new, more robust, representative parliamentary government. From the look of things, the 17th Parliament of Jordan will most likely resemble the 16th or the ones before it. Continue Reading »