May
12
2016
     
By Daoud Kuttab
The celebration of Press Freedom Day by Jordan’s UNESCO office by means of a debate on this year’s theme of access to information revealed the gap that exists between Jordan’s public position and the reality.
For press freedom to exist and flourish, a holistic approach is needed. Such approach must also be part of a larger human rights approach.
Producing a human rights strategy and declaring that the sky is the limit for press freedom will not do if there is no serious political will in this direction.
Examples of the gap are plenty.
According to the annual report of the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists, Jordan imprisoned 10 journalists in 2015 for what they wrote and for expressing their views.
These arrests did not go unnoticed by the US State Department, which made freedom of the press and detaining journalists its number one issue in its most recently produced human rights report about Jordan.
The gap between words and reality was evident in the statements made at the debate on access to information organised by UNESCO on Sunday. Continue Reading »
May
11
2016
  
By Daoud Kuttab
RAMALLAH – Since the beginning of the year, the French government has been building support for an international conference to restart the Israel-Palestine peace process. France deserves applause for its brave effort to revive a process that has been going nowhere for the better part of a decade. But success will require more than courage. Any international bid to resolve the problem of Palestine depends on six factors.
The first is seriousness. When France first made its plans known in January, many dismissed the idea as little more than a diplomatic stunt. Palestinian officials were at first suspicious of the initiative. They feared that it would merely give the Israelis another photo opportunity: After the handshakes, ordinary Palestinians would continue to suffer under the occupation.
When it became clear that the French effort was in earnest, and a date was announced for preparatory talks on May 30, the clear timelines encouraged Palestinian officials to sign up to the process. This good faith must continue no matter what obstacles arise.
The second key ingredient is multilateralism. Israel, the stronger party in the conflict, prefers bilateral talks, which put it in a better position to dictate terms. The weaker side in such talks does, of course, have a sort of power: the power to say no. But the exercise of that power usually comes at a high price. Continue Reading »
May
11
2016
By Daoud Kuttab
The president of the Palestinian Football Federation (PFF), Jibril Rajoub, plans to raise at the FIFA congress in Mexico the status of five soccer clubs based in Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. The five teams located in the West Bank are Beitar Givat Ze’ev, Beitar Ironi Ariel, Ironi Yehuda, Beitar Ironi Ma’aleh Adumim and Hapoel Bik’at Hayarden. All five teams play in the Israeli Football Association, a clear violation of the statutes of the world football governing body FIFA.
 Palestinians want to remind the world that the
Crimean sports clubs were banned in 2014 from playing in the Russian League by FIFA’s Europe’s regional association UEFA after the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula.
Article 10.1 of the FIFA statutes states, “Only one association shall be recognized in each country.†FIFA has recognized both the Israeli Football Association and the Palestinian Football Association, and therefore neither is allowed to play in the territory of the other without permission.
The case of the five settlement clubs was raised during the contentious May 2015 FIFA congress in Zurich when the PFF requested the ouster of the Israeli association for multiple FIFA violations, including the settlement teams. At the time, a compromise was brokered that allowed the Palestinians to withdraw their request, and in return a FIFA committee headed by South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale was asked to study all the Palestinian complaints. Continue Reading »
May
05
2016
        
By Daoud Kuttab
For most journalists, the challenge of doing their job usually comes from one source. However, restrictions and challenges facing Palestinian journalists are multi-levelled and much more complicated.
While most human and media rights organisations usually list governments as restricting journalists, Palestinians living in the occupied territories are restricted by both Israel and Palestine.
The major problem Palestinian journalists face with Israel is lack of recognition. Despite its claim to be the “only democracy in the Middle Eastâ€, Israel has not once recognised a single Palestinian journalist working for the Palestinian media.Â
Israeli military authorities do not issue authorised press cards to Palestinians and the only press cards available come from the Israeli government press office.
The coveted Israeli government press cards have been issued to Palestinians, but only when they work for recognised international media.
One can be the best Palestinian journalist working for the Ramallah-based Al Ayyam daily, or Bethlehem Radio or Palestine TV, but Israel will not recognise him/her, while a junior journalist working for Dutch TV or a Brazilian newspaper will be recognised by Israel, which will grant a press card that allows trouble-free travel. Continue Reading »
May
04
2016
By Daoud Kuttab
Like so many accomplished students, Benaz Someir, a Palestinian from Gaza, chose to attend Birzeit University.
 While pursuing her degree in journalism, Benaz met and later married Walid Batrawi, a fellow BA journalism student from Ramallah. For family and professional reasons, Benaz, a resident of Khan Yunis in Gaza, requested and was given permission to change her residency to the West Bank.
Having successfully convinced the Israelis to change her residency to the West Bank, Benaz was now able to travel to different parts of the world using the King Hussein Bridge, which was easier than returning to Gaza. The choice was hard, but Benaz felt that it was best for her and her career as a media trainer and for her new family in Ramallah.
That decision was made more than 20 years ago. But despite being married to a Palestinian and having proper residency in Ramallah for two decades, Benaz is being treated by Jordanian border control officers as a Gazan. Like all other West Bank and Gaza residents, Benaz holds the same Palestinian passport, yet she is treated differently than her husband.
Walid is allowed to travel to Jordan or via Jordan without any restrictions, while Benaz needs to get prior Jordanian approval. This practice began when Gazans carried Egyptian travel documents and West Bankers carried Jordanian travel documents. Continue Reading »
May
03
2016
By Daoud Kuttab
One issue subject to intense discussions is the “bridge†policy. That is, King Hussein Bridge, which connects Palestine to Jordan and, by extension, to the rest of the world.
The bridge policy is unknown and undeclared. The main reason is that the bridge is not an international crossing point.Â
While Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel, it does not consider this a recognised border point, but it is also unable to call it an official border point with Palestine because the Israeli army is still the de facto power on the western part of the bridge.
The fact that the West Bank was Jordanian territory before 1967 and Jordan has not yet constitutionally ceded the West Bank (King Hussein did sever administrative ties with it in 1989) adds to the reasons the bridge is not an international border yet.
But regardless of legal definitions, some 2.8 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and holding passports issued by the Palestinian government have no possibility to travel after Israel blocked their ability to use the Lod (Ben Gurion) Airport other than the King Hussein Bridge.
For some time after the outbreak of the second Intifada, in 2000, every Palestinian wanting to travel across needed to get permission to enter issued by the Jordanian Ministry of Interior. Continue Reading »
May
03
2016
By Daoud Kuttab
Of all the Jordanian policies that have often been the subject of intense discussion, the one subject that has been a taboo for anyone to talk about has been the ‘bridge’ policy. The reference here is to how decisions are made in regards to travel on the King Hussein Bridge which is the only connecting point between Palestine and Jordan and by extension the only connecting point for all (except for East Jerusalem residents) to the rest of the world.
The bridge policy is unknown and undeclared. Â While Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel and recognises the state of Palestine, it does not consider the bridge a recognised border point.
The West Bank was part of Jordan before 1967 and Jordan has not yet constitutionally ceded the West Bank (King Hussein did sever administrative ties with it in 1989) adds to the reasons the bridge is not an international border yet. Continue Reading »
Apr
26
2016
  Â
By Daoud Kuttab
The cycle of violence in Palestine is so predictable that almost anyone following the news can easily forecast what happens next.
This ability to anticipate what happens if the cycle of violence is not broken is perhaps the most concrete proof that the Israeli occupation is the source of all the violence.
The explosion that occurred this week in an Israeli bus comes after seven months of individual attacks of Israelis that did not include any explosive devices.
The attacks, mostly with knives, produced a disproportionate Israeli army response that often included extrajudicial killings.
Isaac Newton’s theory on gravitation perfectly explains this cycle of violence.
“A particle attracts every other particle in the universe using a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses but also inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.â€
In laypeople’s terms, Newton’s theory is summarised in the, by now, familiar saying: for every action there is a reaction.
Two weeks ago, Israeli leaders and pundits were beginning to prematurely celebrate the end of individual attacks. Continue Reading »
Apr
17
2016
         Â
By Daoud Kuttab
It has been proven true over the years that victors write the history. Nowhere is this fact more obvious than in Jerusalem, where Israelis are trying unsuccessfully to rewrite centuries-old history.
By changing facts on the ground the Israelis are desperately trying to claim exclusivity to a city that has been known for its diversity and religious pluralism.
The latest attempt to monopolise the holy city for Jews has been so over the top that an Israeli newspaper called the effort “absurdâ€.
A map of Jerusalem’s old city distributed for free to all tourists and produced by the Israeli tourism ministry received widespread condemnations from Christian and Muslim religious and social leaders.
Of the 57 tourist locations identified by Israelis in the old city of Jerusalem, only one Islamic and five Christian sites were listed.
Al Haram Al Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary covering 144 dunums, which occupies about a quarter of the old city is the only Islamic site on the said map. Continue Reading »
Apr
12
2016
By Daoud Kuttab
Since being appointed Palestinian prime minister in June 2013, Rami Hamdallah has run a tight economic ship, earning him praise from Christoph Duenwald, the local representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Hamdallah proudly showed Al-Monitor a Feb. 11 IMF statement acknowledging the reduction of the Palestinian deficit to nearly 1% of gross domestic product (GDP).
 Praise from the IMF aside, Hamdallah said, “As prime minister I am bitterly disappointed when it comes to the US.†During an interview with Al-Monitor in his Ramallah office, Hamdallah explained that although US support in 2010 reached $1.45 billion, in 2015 Washington pledged to provide $290 million but only delivered $130 million. The remaining $160 million was frozen by Congress.
The prime minister also expressed displeasure with US efforts to scuttle Palestinian moves at the United Nations. “They always want us to wait. … There are the primaries, then the general elections, then the midterms. They always want us to wait for this or that reason. We have been under occupation for 49 years, and it is 68 years since the Nakba,†he asserted.
These days, Hamdallah is also frustrated about Arab funding for the Palestinian government. “Only Saudi Arabia and Algiers have carried out their pledges to Palestine,†he said. Although the Palestinians have only received 28% of the $4.9 billion pledged by the international community to help reconstruct Gaza, the clean up of the rubble has almost been completed, and the power grids destroyed by Israel have almost all been rebuilt. Hamdallah revealed that the Ramallah government spends NIS 420 million ($111 million) in Gaza monthly while only taking 15-20 million shekels ($4-5.3 million) in tax revenues and fees each month.
The text of the interview follows: Continue Reading »
