By Daoud Kuttab

While it is not clear when and how the popular revolt in Egypt will end, it is clear that the winners and losers, following the present uprising, throughout the Arab world can be identified.

It might be a cliché to state that tyrants are the biggest losers and peoples are the winners, but it does reflect what is the case in much of the Arab world.

Rulers who were able to govern with little resistance for years are suddenly discovering that the seats they have been clinging to are becoming unbearably hot.

Even without being provoked by their own people, some Arab rulers are already announcing that they don’t intend to run for office again. Heads of state who have been harbouring ideas of bequeathing their power to their children are declaring such ideas void even though their children are still running the army or such important senior posts. Continue Reading »

Why does the US boycott one of its own citizens who happens to be the Christian mayor of Bethlehem? This has been the case regarding Victor Batarseh, the elected mayor of the Palestinian town of Bethlehem.<img alt=”2011-02-08-kuttab.jpg” src=”http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2011-02-08-kuttab.jpg” width=”450″ height=”605″ />

Batarseh, a Roman Catholic physician and a U.S. citizen, ran in the municipal elections in 2005 on an independent list of three Christians and seven Muslims. While the seven Muslims on his list lost, he and two other candidates won membership in the council. Later he was chosen by the elected city counselors to be the mayor of the city, Batarseh won the mayorship in part by pro-Hamas candidates. The city’s tradition has always been that the mayor of the birthplace of Christ should be a local Christian. Continue Reading »