By Daoud Kuttab

The U.S. response to the efforts by Palestinian president to join international organizations, including the International Criminal Court (ICC), is puzzling.

The spokeswoman of the U.S. State Department made an unusual attack in trying to express Washington’s opposition. “The United States does not believe Palestine is a sovereign state and, therefore, does not qualify to be part of the International Criminal Court,” said Jan Psaki after the UN secretary general confirmed that Palestine’s application to the ICC has been officially accepted.

That Palestine is not a sovereign state is not disputed; that is exactly the problem which has been around for 47 years and which the latest UN Security Council resolution would have rectified, had it not been for the U.S. negative vote and unfair pressures on African countries.

The Palestinian president has stated clearly for some time that if the UN Security Council does not address this problem, the UN’s latest non-member state will join the Rome Statute which regulates the issue of the criminal court.

Before the beginning of the Madrid Peace process that led to the Oslo Accords, Americans were careful not to use the term Palestine. James Baker, the U.S. secretary of state, instructed his staff to use the term Palestinians rather than refer to Palestine. But all this changed after Oslo. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

I am quite certain that the military war on DAESH (ISIS) will be largely won in 2015. The anger that has engulfed Jordan after learning of the heinous crime against the pilot Muath Kassasbeh will certainly help ensure that this war is won militarily. This is the second time in six months that a young Arab Muslim is burnt alive by extremists. Last July Jewish settlers burnt alive a Palestinian teeanger Mohammad Abu Khdair.

However I can’t say that I have the same confidence of such a success in the ideological war on extremism. Both battles need to be fought simultaneously and won.

The physical rise of the self appointed Caliphate-run DAESH; (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) has provided Arab and western military with a clear tangible target which can be defeated. Finding and defeating the intangible causes that prepared the welcoming environment for these extremists needs an effective strategy.

To fight ideological extremism in the Middle East the main starting point must be youth. It is vitally important that Arab/Muslim youth are given satisfactory answers to their economic, community and spiritual needs. The challenge is difficult and there are no magic solutions. Continue Reading »