Jun
12
2016
By Daoud Kuttab
The cycle of violence in Palestine and Israel has become so predictable that almost anyone following the news can easily forecast what will happen next. For Palestinians, Israelis and the international community, the predictability of the cycle of violence points to lifting the Israeli occupation as the most effective way to end the violence. The June 8 attack on a market in Tel Aviv that left four Israelis dead is no exception to this dynamic.
Palestinians speak of the absence of a peace process and lack of a political horizon as a factor in the deepening cycle of violence. Muammar Orabi, director general of the Ramallah-based Wattan News Agency, told Al-Monitor that what happened in Tel Aviv is a natural outcome of the current political decline. “Palestinians have lost hope, and there is an unprecedented sense of frustration in the occupied territories,†Orabi said.
This opinion is not restricted to Palestinians. In an interview with journalist Ilana Dayan on Israel Army Radio (Galei Tzaha) on June 10, Ron Huldai, the popular mayor of Tel Aviv, pointed the blame. Huldai, a former air force pilot and ambitious Labor Party leader, said that there are more than 200 territorial disputes worldwide, adding, “We might be the only country in the world where another nation is under occupation without civil rights. You can’t hold people in a situation of occupation and hope they’ll reach the conclusion everything is alright.†Continue Reading »
Jun
09
2016
By Daoud Kuttab
In its attempt to force itself on the Palestinians of Jerusalem, the Israeli government and various Israeli radical groups have an arsenal of actions, activities and slogans all with the same purpose.
Unable to remove Palestinians from Jerusalem or wrestle total control over the holy city, various attempts are made to make the city more Jewish and to try to negate the Palestinian presence in the city.
Christian and Muslim worshipers and leaders are regularly made to feel inferior in their city.
While some of the more flagrant, provocative, actions are usually blamed on the more radical right-wing Jewish elements, a quick review of the actions and words of Israeli government and municipal officials shows little difference from the radicals.
The Israeli mayor of Jerusalem walks around the Old City brandishing a weapon and wants to unilaterally remove some 200,000 Palestinians from 27 villages that are part of the city’s municipal boundaries.
The Israeli prime minister, ignoring all other civilisations that have and continue to be part of the city, attempts to rewrite history based on the Zionist narrative that negates all others.
This is also evident in the strange map of the Old City of Jerusalem put out by the Israeli tourism ministry that shows 57 Jewish sites seven Christian locations and a single Muslim site Al Haram Al Sharif/Al Aqsa, Israel renamed Temple Mount. Continue Reading »
Jun
05
2016
     
By Daoud Kuttab
More than two years have elapsed since the last direct talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.
When the Israelis refused to release Palestinian prisoners from a previously agreed to list, the talks, in the words of US Secretary of State John Kerry, went up in the air.
The continuation of the stalemate, coupled with the latest right-wing addition to an Israeli government already controlled by settlers, is pushing some Palestinians and Jordanians to rethink the confederation concept.
In many ways, a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation would make sense. It would be a mechanism that could end the occupation and its continued colonial settlement policy.
Confederation with Jordan would present the Israeli public with a security solution that can be guaranteed by a neighbouring country with which Israel has a peace deal and whose leader is a person Israelis trust.
Some statements, activities and decisions further fuelled this discussion. Continue Reading »
