Daoud Kuttab

The comment was off the cuff, but the result was angry and violent. The commentator was Jordanian oud player Tareq Jundi; the remark was about the coldness at the Al Hussein Cultural Centre.

“It seems that the diesel hasn’t arrived at the theatre from the government,” he said complaining about the fact that the theatre hall was extremely cold.

The concert was a charity show for the rising Jordanian artist Ghiya Rushidat. Some staff at the centre came screaming at Jundi for “cursing” the government and chairs were thrown at the artists who were saved by some of their loyal fans.

Ghai and the musicians decided to file a complaint at the police station, only to discover that the centre had filed a complaint accusing the musicians of having insulted the government and defamed the national flag. In the end both sides dropped their charges.

What happened on the last days of 2013 at the Al Hussein Cultural Centre was not new. In many cases artists and public figures complained that the centre, which belongs to the Greater Amman Municipality, has become a place for bullying and political partisanship.

The centre’s director denied permission to a local organisation to hold a debate on the nuclear programme because the centre “doesn’t do politics”.

In the past, and under a different management, the centre used to be the venue fornumerous debates by that same organisation. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The Israeli Foreign Ministry was quick to reply to the Christmas message of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. They were angry that Abbas, who attended Christmas Mass in the Church of Nativity with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Catherine Ashton, laid claim to the birth of Jesus.

Abbas followed many other Palestinians in saying that Jesus, born in Bethlehem, was Palestinian. Israelis, who refused a request by a Palestinian Israeli parliamentarian to have a Christmas tree at the entrance of the Knesset, angrily refuted the Palestinian claim. The spokesman of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Yigal Palmor, called Abbas’ claim “rewriting Christian history,” petitioning the Palestinian president to read the Gospels.

Figuring out who Jesus was depends on how you categorize identity. For Palestinians, anyone who was born (or whose ancestors were born) on the geographic areas between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is Palestinian. While many nationalities have lived in historic Palestine, including Canaanites, Jabusites, Romans, Israelites, Ummayads and others, the term Palestinian is used in an all-encompassing way.

While Israeli officials mocked Abbas and said he “needs a hug from Santa,” they didn’t lay “Jewish” claim, even though Jesus was historically and Biblically known to have been born to a Jewish family. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The Dec. 16 Facebook message was simple yet powerful: “Imagine if President [Mahmoud] Abbas visited Gaza and took a look at his people there following the winter storm. Imagine how he would be received by Ismail Haniyeh. … People who have been drowning will certainly come out and welcome him,” she concluded.

The entry was by Rawya Shawa, a prominent independent member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. It is unclear if this was an innocent wish or if she was privy to any information about the state of Palestinian reconciliation. The entry coincided with two important phone calls, one between Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Abbas. That phone call followed what has been reported as a thank-you call from Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to the Palestinian president. Press reports have said that Meshaal thanked Abbas for his efforts since the snowstorm to help out Gazans by sending badly needed supplies and intervening with the Israelis to loosen Gaza’s blockade.

Gaza’s humanitarian situation has been horrendous. The UN has reported that more than 10,000 Gazans had to relocate because of the flooding. Photos circulating around the world showed Gazans being rescued in front of their flooded homes with boats and other floating devices. Electricity has been cut off for some time because of the lack of fuel, and the desperation of the population expressed in various social media outlets is heartbreaking. Gazan blogger Mohammad Omer appealed for help online, including from his Twitter account: “I am charging my computer using a car battery to get this message out. It is so cold in Gaza.” Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

In the middle of the Alexa blizzard, which turned the Gaza Strip into a giant lake, Gaza lost one of its most respected men.

Eyad Sarraj, a Palestinian refugee and psychiatrist, died on Dec. 17 with the same dignity that he lived.

While most Gazans have little choice of where to live, Sarraj did. During his stay and studies in the United Kingdom, he obtained a British passport, yet he chose to work, live and die in his beloved Gaza.

When the first intifada broke out, Sarraj’s attention differed from everyone else’s.  While everyone was talking and dealing with issues of liberation and resistance, he focused on his people’s mental well-being and especially the trauma that Palestinian children had gone through. The Gaza Community Mental Health Program quickly became the mecca of all pilgrims interested in Palestine and especially those who were willing to look beyond the physical resistance and oppression.

In a region and time where it’s next to impossible to stay neutral and independent, Sarraj held on dearly to both, which earned him the trust and respect of all factions including those who fought each other in the street battles that eventually led to Palestine’s deepest split. Through every reconciliation effort that had an element of independent personalities, there was no question about where Sarraj stood. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The Dec. 16 entry on her Facebook was simple yet powerful: “Imagine if President [Mahmoud al-] Abbas would visit Gaza and take a look at his people there following the Alexa storm. Imagine how he will be received by Ismail Haniyeh. … People who have been drowning will certainly come out and welcome him.”

The entry was by Rawya Shawa, a prominent independent member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. It is unclear if this was an innocent wish, or if she was privy to any information about the state of Palestinian reconciliation. The entry coincided with twoimportant phone calls: the first between Gaza’s de facto ruler Ismail Haniyeh and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and followed by what has been reported as a thank-you call from Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to Abbas. Press reports have said that Meshaal thanked Abbas for the efforts he has made since the snow storm to help out Gazans by sending badly needed supplies and intervening with the Israelis to loosen up Gaza’s blockade.

Gaza’s humanitarian situation has been horrendous. The United Nations has reported more than 10,000 Gazans having to relocate because of the flooding. Photos circulating around the world showed Gazans being rescued in front of their “drowning” homes with boats and other floating devices. Electricity has been cut off because of a lack of fuel, and the desperation of the population as expressed in various social media outlets is heartbreaking. A Gazan blogger, Mohammad Omer, made the following appeal on his Twitter account: “I am charging my computer using a car battery to get this message out. It is so cold in Gaza.” Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

A man was once labeled a terrorist and held in a South African prison. He and his people appealed to the world for an end to the apartheid regime ruling his country, but the world’s governments failed to respond. They appealed to the world’s citizenry and to private companies, asking them to divest from South Africa, and to people of concence, asking that they boycott the racist regime.

The life of this extraordinary man, Nelson Mandela, was honored during a weeklong celebration leading up to his funeral. Among those praising him were Israeli leaders, including President Shimon Peres, who were intimate supporters of Mandela’s jailers and his people’s oppressors. South Africans became free when people took action against the racist regime and put enough pressure on it to force it to change course.

I was thinking about this as I read the paternalistic Al-Monitor column by Shlomi Eldar from Dec. 16, in which he criticizes Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi for sending a letter to NBC protesting a television series to be filmed in occupied East Jerusalem, focusing primarily on Jewish sites at the so-called City of David excavations. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

A $400 million agreement to create a desalination plant in Aqaba and to pump brine water to the Dead Sea is a far cry from what is being hyped by Israel as an “historic agreement.

The memorandum of understanding signed at the World Bank on Dec. 9 by Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian officials calls for the creation of a desalination plant in Aqaba that would supply clean water to Aqaba and Eilat and pump sea water into the shrinking Dead Sea. In return, Israel would give Jordan 50 million cubic meters of water from the Sea of Galilee free of charge and sell to the Palestinians 20 million to 30 million cubic meters of water. Jordan would supply Eilat with 30 million cubic meters of water and make the same amount available to its own southern population.

Israeli Minister of Energy and Water Silvan Shalom, hailing the agreement as “historic,” said it reflected what he called unprecedented regional cooperation. His Palestinian counterpart, Shaddad Attili, said that the Palestinian government supports the Jordanian project, which would for the first time free up a decent quantity of water for supply to Palestine outside the framework of the Oslo Accords. This largely Jordanian endeavor is a far cry from the multibillion dollar Red Sea-Dead Sea channel that has been part of the discussions steered by the World Bank. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The question to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was appropriate in time and place. At a news conference in Johannesburg where he was attending Nelson Mandela’s funeral, Abbas was asked about his position regarding the international campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) of Israel.

Abbas’ answer, while not surprising for many considering that he’s involved in negotiations, angered supporters of the BDS movement. The Palestinian leader said flat out that he doesn’t support the boycott of Israel, but that he calls for people around the world not to deal with Israeli settlers and their products. “No, we do not support the boycott of Israel,” Abbas said. “But we ask everyone to boycott the products of the settlements. Because the settlements are in our territories. It is illegal.”

The distinction puts Abbas in the same camp as former Israeli Knesset member Uri Avneri, whose movement Gush Shalom makes this difference loud and clear.

Abbas’ statement reflects the reality on the ground where Palestinians without control over their land and borders have little choice but to deal with Israel. Palestinians import from Israel more than $800 million worth of goods a year.   Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

It might be a coincidence or hype from the Palestinian leadership. But a look at the narrative being weaved by the Palestinian leadership and one has no alternative but to think that the Americans and Europeans have joined the Israelis in trying to extract concessions from the Palestinians.

The latest source of this is the US security plan that includes a permanent Israeli military presence in the Jordan Valley for 10 years. Al-Ayyam daily, which is close to the Palestinian leadership, has said that the plan calls for Israeli soldiers to remain in the Jordan Valley for 10 years. Multiple media reports talked about a visible Israeli security presence in select locations along the Jordan River, with an invisible Israeli presence on the bridge connecting the east and west bank near the city of Jericho.

The latter sounds like the exact same situation that existed prior to the eruption of the intifada in October 2000. Shortly after clashes between Israeli and Palestinian police in different locations, the “invisible” Israelis kicked out the “visible” Palestinian police. The road map had called for Israel to allow the situation to be returned to the pre-October 2000 period, but Israel has refused until this very day the US-designed security plan that would have Palestinian police back on the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Mention of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) used to arouse fear and intimidation in Israel and around the world. The radical Palestinian organization founded in the late 1970s by George Habash, a Palestinian Christian physician from Lydda, became a household name after it carried out spectacular airline hijackings and other daring acts.

On Dec. 7, its acting chairman, Abdel Rahim Malouh, and a number of its senior leaders quietly resigned from the faction, which is under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), without anyone paying much attention. Malouh told local Palestinian media that he had submitted his resignation in 2010, but that it took effect on Dec. 7. Others who resigned at the same time include Jamil Mejdalawi, Younis al-Jaro and Abdul Aziz al-Qarayah. Malouh has said that he will retain his seat as a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee. What has happened to this faction that the Israelis once considered a terrorist organization?

Many would argue that the hoopla around the Marxist PFLP was undeserved. True, the group carried out spectacular acts of violence, such as airplane hijackings, the most famous one involving the diversion of a passenger jet to the Jordanian desert in 1970. In fact, however, the PFLP killed only a few people. Given today’s cutthroat brand of terrorism, indiscriminate car bombings and beheadings, this once supposedly radical organization appears by comparison to be a humble lamb.

Even the Israelis acknowledged that their incitement against the PFLP had been exaggerated when they allowed PFLP senior leaders to return to the Palestinian territories after the signing of the Oslo Accords. Habash, however, never returned. He resigned in 2000 and died in Amman in 2008. He was replaced by Abu Ali Mustafa, one of the PFLP leaders allowed to return. Continue Reading »