By Daoud Kuttab

A veteran Palestinian thinker and legal expert believes that US President Barack Obama should use his remaining months in the White House to ensure that a UN Security Council resolution recommending the recognition of Palestine be permitted to pass. Camille Mansour, a former Sorbonne professor and adviser to the negotiating team of the PLO, told Al-Monitor, “Now that he is freed from elections-related political shackles, he can allow for Palestine to join the UN as a state under occupation.”

According to Mansour, Obama could accomplish a number of goals with such a decision. He said that it could be Obama’s gift to Middle East peace before leaving office Jan. 20. “He has the ability to instruct single-handedly his UN representative to support or abstain from a resolution that will become irrevocable once the UN Security Council passes it,” Mansour said. Even Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, will not be able to reverse it.

Mansour’s idea has been discussed by numerous pundits, as has a Security Council resolution against Israeli settlement activity. Mansour said that some decisions within the two-state parameter could be invalidated by the new president. “The idea of a Security Council resolution regarding settlements or a framework for a future resolution can easily be reversed by the newly elected president,” Mansour said. Recognition of a state, however, once it is approved by the United Nations is much more difficult to reverse, he argued, as the state would have received international legitimacy. Continue Reading »

     

By Daoud Kuttab

At about 2:40am Wednesday, Donald J. Trump, the US president elect, spoke to his supporters, the American people and the world. 

He praised Hillary Clinton, spoke about how he will make America great and then addressed the world.

“I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America’s interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone. All people and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility, partnership, not conflict.”

Naturally this is the kind of speech that one would expect from a victor. But it begs the question: Can Trump in fact be fair to the world while putting America’s interest first?

The answer is obviously positive if, in fact, that is what a Trump administration will attempt to do.

Politically speaking, the president-elect surprisingly has very little baggage in terms of strictly held positions or in terms of being committed to any particular ideological point of view. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

With last-minute preparations underway for the seventh Fatah congress due to be held Nov. 29, the big question on many people’s minds is whether the top three positions presently held by Mahmoud Abbas will be taken up by a single person or three different people.

At present, Abbas is not only the Palestinian president and the head of the Fatah movement, but he is also the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee. Traditionally, the PLO position is considered the most important one, as the organization represents all Palestinians and is the highest Palestinian political body. But Palestinian analysts say that the PLO has become an empty shell with few financial resources.

A senior Palestinian source privy to discussions within the ruling Fatah movement told Al-Monitor that there are no plans at present to distribute the positions held by Abbas. The source, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue, said that the focus of the seventh Fatah congress is to rejuvenate the movement and to bring in new blood, while at the same time putting an end to what he called the Dahlan movement.

Renegade Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan, who was expelled from the Fatah movement in 2011, is trying to return to its fold with the help of a number of Arab countries, among them Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud-led coalition opened the winter session of the Israeli Knesset with a decision by coalition members to walk out every time a member of the Joint List — a unified slate of predominantly Arab parties — speaks. The move, initiated by hard-liner Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman, came as a punishment for Arab Israeli members of Knesset who did not attend former Israeli President Shimon Peres’ funeral on Sept. 30.

In response, all 13 members of the Joint List walked out of the Knesset when Netanyahu addressed the session on Oct. 31. The decision of the Likud-led coalition has little more than symbolic value, and it is not expected to last more than a week, according to multiple sources contacted by Al-Monitor.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, Aida Tuma-Suleiman, one of the leading members of the Joint List, expressed her bewilderment at Netanyahu’s hypocrisy in regards to Peres. “When Peres was alive, Netanyahu was constantly inciting against him.”

Tuma-Suleiman believes that the “Israeli prime minister takes advantage of every opportunity to slander us and, through us, the Arab population in Israel.” She added, “He doesn’t have the right to punish us for expressing our political beliefs. Netanyahu doesn’t care about us staying away from the funeral of Peres; he simply uses every occasion he finds to attack us.” Continue Reading »

   

By Daoud Kuttab

November 2 is etched in the minds of Palestinians and Arabs as a dark day. November 2, 2017, will mark the 100th anniversary of the date when a British official promised a Zionist leader a Jewish state in a country that was already inhabited by Palestinians, including Palestinian Jews.

Palestinians and their supporters are planning a year-long series of activities to mark this date with the aim of reminding the world of the injustice that befell the Palestinians nearly one century ago.

In 1917, in a letter to Lord Rothschild, the head of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, British foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour made the promise of a state for Jews, but conditioned it with a request that existing communities would not be “prejudiced” by such a state.

“His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country,” the text of the declaration reads. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Following the participation of a group of Palestinians in a holiday celebration at a nearby Jewish settlement, Palestinians have been asking themselves a simple question: Why would a population under occupation that bears the brunt of the settlement enterprise visit their occupiers?

The event over the Jewish Sukkot holiday on Oct. 19 was widely covered by the media. Mayor of Efrat Oded Revivi told French news agency AFP that 30 Palestinians who live near the Jewish settlement accepted the invitation. Sukkot is a weeklong Jewish holiday during which participants build a hut and pray for rain. Palestine and Israel suffer from a water shortage.

The Washington Post reported in detail Oct. 20 what happened when Palestinians participated publicly in the holiday events at Efrat with gun-toting settlers and Israeli army officials.

Once the story was made public, the Palestinian security service on Oct. 21 arrested four of the Palestinians who had attended the settlers’ event. Bethlehem Governor Muhammad Taha told Israeli Army Radio that the four were accused of behavior that encourages “normalization with Israel,” which according to the governor is a violation of Palestinian law. It is unclear, however, why these four Palestinians were arrested, but it seems they were among the leaders of the group that attended the event. Continue Reading »

      

By Daoud Kuttab

His Majesty King Abdullah hit the nail on the head when he focused his Sixth Discussion Paper on the need to respect and abide by the rule of law.

The rule of law is not a new concept. It basically means that law, a written clearly stated law, should govern the country, as opposed to arbitrary decisions by government officials.

Some trace the concept of the rule of law to the 16th century Britain; others go back to the ancient philosopher Aristotle who wrote that “law should govern”.

But how do we apply this concept in today’s Jordan?

To begin with, it is important to understand, as the King stated, that loyalty and devotion “remain abstract and theoretical in the absence of respect to laws”.

This means that if you speak and sing praises to country while not respecting the law, you are much worse than a person who is critical of the country but respects its laws.

If accepted correctly, this would wipe out an entire class of individuals who constantly clap and sing the country’s praises but are often the first to ask for wasta and exceptions to the law. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The upcoming visit by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to Israel and Palestine in November has produced a positive reaction from Palestinian officials.

While the visit planned for Nov. 10 has been billed as an anniversary celebration of the 25 years since Russia restored its ties with Israel, the Palestinian ambassador in Moscow welcomed the visit, calling Russia a supporter of Palestinian rights.

Abdel Hafiz Nofal, the Palestinian envoy to Russia, told Al-Monitor that Russia’s support has been consistent with Palestinian rights and aspirations. “Russia totally supports the Palestinian right for self-determination and the need for an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.

Russia, which is mired in the Syrian conflict, has also shown interest in the political quagmire of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As late as mid-September, Moscow was trying hard to host a direct Israeli-Palestinian summit in October. The summit has not materialized, but according to Nofal, the Russians have not given up on the idea. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sept. 28 in an interview with the Turkish Anadolu Agency that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had foiled the Russian initiative because he refused to accept the two-state solution on the 1967 borders.

Nofal said he believes that the support of Russia is “much stronger and more dependable” than that of the Soviet Union. While the United States was the first country to recognize Israel as the de facto authority, the Soviet Union was the first country to recognize Israel as the de jure authority on May 17, 1948.

According to the Palestinian diplomat, a major reason for the steadiness of Russian support has to do with the Russian Orthodox Church and its sister church in Palestine. The Russian Church has developed into a major ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Orthodox Russian Church has properties in Palestine, and the rejuvenated Russian Orthodox faithful have been flooding the holy places in Palestine as pilgrims.

Putin, who visited Palestine a number of times, inaugurated on June 26, 2012, a major multipurpose cultural center in Bethlehem on land that belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church. Nofal further said that Moscow plans to invest $50 million in the center. Palestinian officials have welcomed the Russian interest and investment. The mayor of Bethlehem renamed the street on which the new center is built “Putin Street.”

In another Palestinian town of Christian reference, Jericho, a Russian museum and park were built around the sycamore tree that reminds many faithful of the biblical story of Zacchaeus. The story was that Zacchaeus, a short man, had climbed a sycamore tree in Jericho to see Jesus.

Medvedev visited Jericho in July 2011, when he was president of Russia, and held a summit meeting with Abbas during which the new museum and park were inaugurated. In January 2016, the museum celebrated its fifth anniversary. A street was named after the Russian leader in Jericho in January 2012.

The Russian Orthodox presence is even felt in Hebron. In March 2016, the Palestinian government restored lands belonging to the Orthodox Church despite strong opposition by local Islamists. The latter insist that the land should be kept under the control of the Muslim Endowment, al-Waqf.

Despite the importance of the religious aspect of Russian-Palestinian relations, Palestinian officials and the public are hoping for a much higher level of relations — especially in terms of possible Russian investment in tourism. Russian pilgrims to Palestine and Israel annually amount to nearly one-quarter of all visitors. In 2014, of the 3.3 million pilgrims who visited the Holy Land, 22% (726,000) were Russian Orthodox.

Russians also have another reason for their special interest in Palestine and Israel. Some 1.5 million Israeli citizens are of Russian origin. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is a leader of the far right-wing Yisrael Beitenu party, which is made up almost exclusively of Russian Jews. Asked about how Russians view Liberman, the Palestinian ambassador said, “The world considers Liberman a catastrophe.”

Russian-Palestinian relations go beyond the official level. Khaled Ghazzal, a Palestinian engineer working in the Ramallah municipality, told Al-Monitor that Russia is a strong and serious supporter of Palestinians. “The Orthodox Russian Church is with us, and we have a strategic ally in the Russian Federation.”

With the United States and its Western allies unable to move the peace process or pressure the Israelis in this regard, Palestinians feel comfortable with their Russian allies. As long as Russian Orthodox Christians continue to visit the Palestinian holy places, and the political alignment of Russia remains with the Arab world, the strategic Russian-Palestinian relationship has a strong basis for long-term sustainability and mutual benefit.

By Daoud Kuttab

A statement issued by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova has angered Palestinian officials and activists.

Bokova made the statement Oct. 14, the same day Israel decided to suspend its relations with UNESCO due to the organization’s resolution on Israeli violations in Jerusalem that Israel feels ignored Jewish connections to Al-Haram al-Sharif compound. Bokova tried to re-emphasize the importance of the three main Abrahamic religions and called for tolerance and for dialogue. After explaining that UNESCO declared Jerusalem a World Heritage Site because of its universality and its importance to the three religions, she concluded by appealing for “dialogue, not confrontation.”

But what angered Palestinians was the feeling that the UNESCO director-general tried to oppose the will of the majority of the member states. Of special concern was Bokova saying, “The Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred shrine of Muslims, is also the Har HaBayit — or Temple Mount — whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism.”

A Haaretz article from May 2015 stated there was no connection between Al-Haram al-Sharif and the Jewish temples. While they did not question the existence of the First Temple, Israeli journalists Ruth Schuster and Ran Shapira wrote in the same Israeli daily in October that year, “Archaeologists cannot conclusively point to stones they know comprised the Second Temple, let alone the first one.” Continue Reading »

         

By Daoud Kuttab

The recent resolution that was approved by the world’s cultural body about the old city of Jerusalem, Al Haram Al Sharif and the Ibrahimi Mosque had nothing to do with Jews or Jewish history.

A close reading of the resolutions passed by UNESCO shows that they are about Israel and its practices in occupied Palestinian territories.

Yet, one would not notice this fact if one were following the Israeli media as well as much of the world media that falls within its orbit.

The spin and overreach of the Israeli hasbara (propaganda) machine would have its readers believe that this was the most anti-Jewish resolution ever.

The UNESCO resolution condemned Israel for its actions against Palestinians and Palestinian holy places, and reminded the world that repeated attempts by UNESCO experts to examine the situation on the ground and to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials were blocked by the Israeli occupiers.

While there was no explicit anti Jewish reference in the resolution, the word occupation appears 15 times in the text because that was the focus of the resolution. Continue Reading »