By Daoud Kuttab

The image will remain engraved in many people’s memory about the first intifada. A Palestinian woman dressed in a skirt and blouse holds here high heel shoes in one hand and throws a stone on members of the occupying Israeli forces with the other. Clearly the image is not so much about violence as it is about defiance and the integral role of women in the Palestinian uprising.

Match that image with this week’s decision by the Islamic-led powers in Gaza to ban a marathon in the Strip because women had decided to participate in it or the decision last month to apply strict Islamic dress code on female university students. This comparison, while focusing on external descriptions, is perhaps the most telling image of the retraction, rather than the progression, of Palestinian women in the last four decades.

Other more substantive comparisons of laws, regulations and social attitudes tend to confirm this trend, although there are exceptions. Continue Reading »

Following appeared in the Jordan Times.

By Daoud Kuttab

This week, hundreds of Palestinians attempting to return home using the only crossing point allowed to them, the King Hussein Bridge, found themselves stuck for hours and hours at the bridge.

It appears that Israeli bridge officials were not ready to accept the Palestinians, which included many umra pilgrims.

On Sunday and Monday the bridge was closed at noon, causing travellers who made it before closure nearly 10 hours of delay, while others arriving after that time were asked to come back the following day. Some, choosing to pay as much as $108 per person to cross the bridge using the VIP service, had to wait for at least four hours.

This is not the first time that Palestinians suffer from long delays, which is routine in summer months. Ever since October 2000, the Israelis got rid of the Palestinian police that was stationed at the bridge, reduced bridge hours from the 24 to an 8am-10pm weekday schedule and a much more reduced schedule on Fridays, Saturdays and on Jewish holidays. The Israeli airport and other crossing points are open around the clock, even during Jewish holidays. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Following appeared in the Jordan Times and Huffington Post

also check out these other stories

http://forward.com/articles/175016/salam-fayyad-doomed-by-israel-and-palestinian-enem/?p=all

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/salam-fayyad-resignation-abbas-replacement.html

Israel may say that it wants peace, but the reality has become clear. Once U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry left the region, Israel felt protected by the charm handed to it for free by Obama and subsequently ignored his advice on how to work on ending the occupation.

If you are generous to a decent person, you own him, and if you are kind to a nasty person, he rebels, goes a famous Arab saying.

What we are witnessing now is Israel’s rebellion against its generous benefactor: the U.S.

Here are a few examples. Before Obama came to Israel, there was discussion about some confidence-building measures. Palestinians were asked to refrain from taking Israel to the International Court of Justice while Israel was asked to freeze settlement activities in order to facilitate a return to peace talks. Continue Reading »