By Daoud Kuttab

After Kerry’s well-publicized July 19 statement in Amman and the highly visible opening session of the talks in Washington on July 29, both sides appear to have deliberately avoided the spotlight. The local media was full of stories about journalists trying to determine where the Jerusalem meeting was to take place, but to no avail. In the end, the media was forced to publish the only photo released by the negotiators of the Jerusalem meeting, held at an undisclosed location. It might prove to be more difficult to avoid the spotlight during the next meeting planned for Jericho or Ramallah simply because of their smaller size and limited number of possible locations.

US Secretary of State John Kerry seems to have succeeded in one important aspect regarding the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. He publicly stated that he had received a commitment from both sides that the talks would be kept secret, and so far it appears to have worked. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Simultaneously with the resumption of peace talks, the Israeli high court has been hearing a petition by families of 15 Palestinians killed years ago, and whose bodies have been kept by the Israelis since.

As the second round of face-to-face peace talks got underway, another emotional issue has arisen. The return of the bodies of Palestinians killed in the decades long conflict with Israel.

At least four cemeteries have recently been exposed as being the “cemeteries of numbers,” where dead Arabs have been buried, rather than having been returned to their families or countries of origin.

It is unclear how many bodies continue to be held by Israel. One of the recently exposed cemeteries has more than 500 plates with numbers. The names of 23 missing Jordanian citizens were published by the weekly newspaper Al-Majd on Aug. 5. Continue Reading »