By Daoud Kuttab

February 13^th has been declared by the United Nations Education and Science Organisation (UNESCO) as World Radio Day. In addition to traditional public statements and protocol activities there are some concrete things that can be done to help make the world a better place to live in with help of radio.

Radio is a fabulous media, an instrument that allows people to communicate. It allows people to communicate without paying for it. Not every one can afford to buy a newspaper or even have it accessible in their village. Not only is radio free (except for the battery costs) and accessible, the information transmittedby radio can be understood by all citizens rich or poor,learned or ignorant, Even those who are unable to read and write (including those with seeing incapabilities and persons who are illiterate can enjoy radio. Continue Reading »

Daoud Kuttab

With the bulk of the Palestinian reconciliation effort being focused on Hamas and Fatah, little attention has been paid to other nationalist and Islamic factions that compose the Palestinian movement.

One of these factions is Islamic Jihad, a militant nationalist movement that has adopted Islam politically rather than religiously. Unlike Hamas — which believes in the need to preach Islam to its supporters — Islamic Jihad ignores Islam’s social elements and grassroots activity to instead concentrate on its political and military dimensions. This focus means that Islamic Jihad revolves around a smaller, more trained membership because it has no need to attract large numbers of followers. Continue Reading »

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 »