By Daoud Kuttab

After a seven-year legal battle, the Silesian nuns convent located in the Palestinian town of Beit Jala lost an appeal on April 24 against the building of the Israeli wall on its land. The latest route of the wall will place the convent on the Palestinian side of the wall, and its companion Cremisan Catholic monastery on the Israeli side. It will also take up most of the Church’s lands as well as that of 58 families, most of them Palestinian Christians.

According to a news release issued by the human rights organization that joined the lawsuit, the Israelis will place an agricultural gate that will be open at certain times of the year to allow the Church to tend its land. For decades, the Cremisan monastery has produced wine [from grapes] grown in the Cremisan Valley. Reports from Palestinian officials note that the latest decision will deny Palestinians the only remaining green area. Bethlehem city officials say that as a result of the 47-year- old occupation of Palestinian lands, the city has been dramatically shrunk from its original size. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

When Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad broke his silence following the acceptance by President Mahmoud Abbas of his resignation, the topic he chose to discuss was not overtly political. Using his Facebook page, Salam Fayyad wrote the following words: “I call on all Palestinians to support the Palestinian artistMohammed Assaf, who is deservedly representing Palestine in the second season of ‘Arab Idol.’”

Support of an artist by a politician is not usually the best path to success, but in the Palestinian case, the words from Fayyad were welcomed by Assaf, who is being supported by Palestinians and Arabs in general throughout the made-for-TV competition.

Twenty-three-year-old Assaf was born in Libya in 1989 and moved back to Gaza in 1994, and is now studying public relations at Gaza’s Palestine University. His voice is said to be very close to the late Egyptian sensation Abdel Halim Hafez, an issue that has brought him fame and some controversy. Using parts of the late Egyptian’s name, some have called Assad Hilm Falastine (Palestine’s Dream). Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The state of Israel prides itself on being a democratic state in which all its citizens are treated equally under the law. Yet a closer examination shows the strange and convoluted ways in which laws are used to defend some clearly racist practices.

A case in point is the practice of denying family-reunification permission to Israelis married to Palestinians. International humanitarian law and the basic law in Israel make it difficult for the Interior Ministry to bar an Israeli from demanding the right to live with his or her spouse. Around the world, laws and regulations protect the sanctity of the family and guarantee its members basic rights, including the right to live together and the granting of necessary permits to be able to do that. Continue Reading »