By Daoud Kuttab

On the first of December 1955 (the year I was born), a 42-year-old African-American woman, Rosa Parks, made a defiant gesture by refusing to give up her bus seat despite a call by the white bus driver to stand.

The residents of Montgomery, Alabama responded to Parks’ defiance by totally boycotting the discriminatory bus company until it changed its policy.

Fifty-nine years later, almost to the day, a deputy in the Jordanian parliament, Yihya Saud “ordered” defiant MP Hind Fayez to sit down. The call: “Uqudi ya Hind” (sit down Hind) was captured on video and went viral on YouTube as Jordanians and others circulated the footage. Not only did Saud bark out this order, but he also cursed those who introduced the quota system which allowed women to reach Parliament.

No doubt the words that Saud addressed to his colleague are not new to most women who are used to men ordering them around, especially if they have the guts to stand up for what they believe.

Women MPs (not the men) attempted to stand up for their female colleague in the next Lower House session and sat in the foyer rather than their allotted seats. But the boycott didn’t last long and they were convinced to return to the chamber without Saud having apologized.

Women, who make up half the population, are represented by 18 out of the 150 Lower House members — a mere 12 percent. Due to this low level of female representation, Jordan rank is 115 out of 155 parliaments. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The sight was unusual and the purpose was even more bizarre. A large contingent of the Palestinian police force surrounded the office of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), which has not been in session for years. Palestinian police showed up in the afternoon of Dec. 2 and have been stationed outside all its entrances and exits since.

Left-wing PLO Executive Committee member Tayseer Khaled expressed dismay at the sight of the police. “At a time that parliaments around the world are voting in recognition of Palestine, it is unacceptable that the Palestinian police surround our own parliament,” Khaled, a senior member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was quoted as saying.

Najat Abu Bakr, an elected Fatah legislator from Nablus, told Al-Monitor that the presence of armed police on PLC premises is a direct violation of Clause 51 of the Palestinian Basic Law, which states that only the head of the legislature can order the police on PLC premises. Abu Bakr said that it is a gray zone, because the PLC has not been in session for years. “The constitutional crisis is the result of a lack of consensus within the parliament’s own factions,” he said. Abu Bakr was not the only Fatah legislator to complain. The head of the parliamentary faction, Azzam Ahmad, spoke publicly against the police presence saying that the decision about who is the secretary-general of the legislative PLC is the sole prerogative of the PLC itself. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ own people often have some unflattering words for him. He has been called a “traitor” and a “quisling,” accused of selling out Palestine in peace negotiations. While Israelis also attack him as a “diplomatic terrorist” and “Arafat in a suit,” one important Israeli sector has been praising him. The Israeli security establishment has nothing but positive words for the embattled Palestinian leader for his consistent support of security cooperation with Israel.

Having secured the support of the Arab League, the fight to end Israel’s occupation now moves to the UN Security Council. Jordan, the only Arab member of the council, has been asked by the Arab League to carry the Palestinian position. Dina Kawar, Jordan’s UN representative, told Al-Monitor that once the resolution is officially submitted, “There are bound to be negotiations as to which text will be agreed to.” Kawar said, “Once we decide with the Palestinians to put the draft in blue, it means it has to be voted on.” But Kawar expects that the negotiations will take some time. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Politicians holding down the floodgates against a public display of support for the state of Palestine were embarrassed in recent weeks. As soon as these political gatekeepers allowed their rank and file to express their positions, tremendous backing came for Palestine and its people. This happened in the British House of Commons, where an overwhelming number of MPs voted for Palestine, followed by Spain and, this week, by France. Other European countries are set to vote in the coming weeks, after it became unacceptable to deny the representatives of the people the right to say their word.

True, the votes recognizing the state of Palestine are not binding on the governments, but they send a powerful message and make it very difficult for these countries’ representatives at the UN Security Council to vote against a resolution that goes against what their own parliament voted for. The UK and France are permanent members; Spain will become a member of the prestigious UN Security Council on January 1, 2015.

France’s foreign minister is trying hard to avoid a UN Security Council vote; he has been trying hard to organize a peace conference in Paris that can bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Palestinians are clear that the time for negotiations is over, and only accept an end of the occupation. Talks to any other end would be a waste of time and an opportunity for Israel to obfuscate and delay. Of course, all the votes in favor of Palestine took place in Europe. The United States is a different story. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

In 1977, the UN General Assembly declared November 29 the international day for solidarity with Palestine.

Last year, the UN secretary general added to this, declaring 2014 the international year for solidarity with the Palestinian people..

As we observe one day and almost the end of the year, the two dates appear to be nothing more than empty rhetoric.

To be fair, at the time the UN leader had called for solidarity with Palestinians, a nine-month negotiating window had opened up.

That window has been closed since last April by Israel, which failed to honour its commitments (to release 104 prisoners); thus a state of war replaced the hope for peace.

The breakdown of the peace talks was followed by an increase in illegal settlement activities, a brutal war on Gazans, and Israeli leaders’ incitement against Arabs in Jerusalem, which led to violence and destruction.

The dangerous slide towards a possible religious war over Al Aqsa Mosque was averted at the last minute by Jordan’s recall of its ambassador to Israel.

In addition to the dangerous actions in and around Al Aqsa Mosque, we are now witnessing yet another aggravation, this time in the form of a racist Israeli law that is threatening the very basic agreements that were reached two decades ago.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation, a signatory to the exchange of recognition with Israel on September 9, 1993, declared that the change of the character of Israel will be seen as a negation of the recognition of Israel and “abolish the mutual exchange agreement reached in 1993.” Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

When former Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and President Mahmoud Abbas, as representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), held secret talks with members of Israel’s Labor Party in 1993, they were dealing with a secular political party that headed a coalition also including non-Zionist religious parties. When Yasser Arafat, as chairman of the PLO’s Executive Committee, signed a letter that same year recognizing the State of Israel, the secular coalition government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had not tried to define Israel as the national homeland for the Jewish people.

Although the issue of the Jewish character of Israel has been part of domestic debates for decades, on Nov. 23 the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a legal step on the matter. In a 14-6 vote, his Cabinet approved the latest draft of a controversial 14-item bill to declare Israel “the national homeland of the Jewish people.” According to Netanyahu, the measure will give Arab citizens of Israel equal individual rights while bestowing Jews in Israel and around the world national rights, an assertion fiercely rejected by many in Israel. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

For the 23rd time since his arrest in 2002, Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti was transferred to an isolated cell in the Israeli Hadarim prison. The Israeli press said that the punishment was due to a letter smuggled out of prison by the Palestinian leader and published in the largest Palestinian newspaper.

Fadwa Barghouti, wife of the jailed leader, told Al-Monitor that her husband has never changed his position. “Ever since his arrest until now, he has held on to the right of comprehensive resistance that international law guarantees,” she said. Fadwa spoke to Al-Monitor before leaving for Chile and Argentina to join international events of solidarity for her husband.

When pressed about the use of the additional term of the gun, Fadwa Barghouti, who on her Facebook page had removed the word “gun,” suggested that his reference to armed resistance was a tactical statement and not a strategic one: “He is not expected to change his position while he is suffering in prison.” Fadwa Barghouti insisted that Marwan Barghouti’s policies are known to all, a reference to his general support for the peace process and the two-state solution. He has also stated on numerous occasions his opposition to attacks on civilians. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Obama clarifies Assad policy

Speaking to reporters at G-20 summit in Brisbane, Australia on November 16, US President Barack Obama dismissed reports of pending changes in Syria policy, saying “We have not had a comprehensive review of Syria. We’ve had a comprehensive review of what are we doing each and every week” in the military campaign to defeat the Islamic State.

Asked pointedly if he was actively discussing ways to remove Assad in the context of plans for a political transition in Syria, Obama responded with a simple “No.”

Obama’s clarity on Syria stood in contrast to an unusual presentation by US Secretary of State John Kerry the next day on how the Islamic State and the government of Syria are actually “co-dependent” or “symbiotic,” that is, they need each other as enemies, and the US must build and back a “moderate center” in Syria.

Kerry’s remarks come as Syrian military forces this month retook the area around the Al-Shaer gas field from the IS terrorist group after fierce fighting, as reported by Khaled Atallah. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

In the early months of the first intifada, Palestinians waited for the underground leadership’s directions, which came out in a numbered statement that was quickly distributed by fax throughout the occupied territories. The leaflet, Bayan al-intifada, came to be regularly issued by what was known as the Unified National Command of the Intifada. This underground leadership was a well-kept secret, and for Israel, its members were like needles in a haystack.

At the time of the first intifada, there was no wall and no restriction on the movement of Palestinians from the occupied territories into Israel.

In Nov. 13 meeting of journalists who worked at the now defunct Palestinian newspaper Al Fajr, Hatem Abdel Qader, one of the paper’s editors who later became a member of the Palestinian Parliament and a minister for Jerusalem affairs, revealed that the underground leadership often met on the premises of the newspaper’s Nablus Road offices in East Jerusalem. An editor in attendance indicated that the third leaflet had been produced at the newspaper premises. A Palestinian engineer from Ramallah, Khaled Batrawi, posted on his Facebook page this week that he had been aware of a number of meetings of the underground leadership held in West Jerusalem.

At the time, membership in — or even sympathy for — the PLO was illegal, so it was necessary to direct it in secret. This need, coupled with Palestinians’ freedom of movement, created the formula for the creation of the underground leadership. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

It is not clear whether Israeli prime minister’s portrayal of the latest violence as the battle of Jerusalem was a description of what was happening or an electoral wish. Whatever the case, the results of the “battle for Jerusalem”, if it is that, will certainly be different from what Israelis predict.

One of the first indications that Jerusalem is different is the personalization of the victims.
Everyone has a name and the names are given prominence.

More than 2,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli war on Gaza, but we know very little about them. In Jerusalem, however, the names of both Palestinians and Israelis who are killed are given much more prominence in media coverage and public discussions.

Mohammad Abu Khudair who was brutally killed by Jewish settlers, and Yusuf Hasan Al Ramuni, the Palestinian driver who operated an Israeli bus and was said to have hanged himself, have become household names.

The Israelis who were killed in the attack on the synagogue also have been named: Rabbi Moshe Twersky, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, Rabbi Kalman Levine and Aryeh Kupinsky.

Similarly, the press gave the names of the two Palestinian cousins, Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal, from the Jerusalem neighbourhood of At Tur.

This high visibility of the various victims of the violence in Jerusalem is certain to raise the emotional and political temperature in a city that has been near boiling point since summer.

Israel’s planned punishments for the people of Jerusalem will do little to de-escalate the tensions, but will certainly contribute to widening them.

While Israel’s prime minister and other ministers and politicians quickly accused the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah and Gaza for what happened, Israel’s security chiefs, including the head of Shin Bet (internal security), publicly contradicted their political leaders and blamed the violence on the visit by members of the Knesset to Al Aqsa Mosque and the killing of Abu Khudair, rather than anything else.

The fact is that, unlike other areas in the occupied territories, Israel has full control over East Jerusalem and has created a wall separating Jerusalem from the rest of the Palestinian territories. Continue Reading »