By Daoud Kuttab

Whenever I travel from Jordan to the state of Palestine, I have to use three different cell-phone devices, each with a different SIM card. I need to keep my regular Zain Jordanian cell and therefore I put it on phone roaming. But in Palestine I need to use two other cell phones.  Jawwal, the leading Palestinian cell company is a must whenever you are anywhere in Palestine; most people have Jawwal numbers and to ask them to call any other service provider would be a financial burden on them.  Palestine does have a second provider, wataniya, but this new provider doesn’t have the same agreement with Zain as Jawwal, which allows you to receive calls from Jordanian Zain subscribers when you are in Palestine without extra charge. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Despite the positive tone of the Abbas-Meshaal meetings in Cairo, it is safe to say that the long-awaited breakthrough in the Hamas-Fatah talks has not yet materialized. Maybe the best evidence for that failure lies in the fact that the two Palestinian leaders were not invited by the Egyptian president for a tripartite meeting.

Observers of the flow of the talks can look for three key areas that reflect whether the talks have produced the desired outcome of full Palestinian unity, and the return of a single governmental/security command structure for both the partially-liberated Gaza and the still-occupied West Bank. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab
For a long time, Palestinians followed the Israeli elections very closely. They were aware of who was up, who was down, the platforms of every party in Israel and how each’s victory or loss could affect the coalition and the peace process.

Today in Palestine, there is no such interest — and it is not clear why. Is it because Palestinians see little difference between the various competing politicians? Is it because the peace process is not a major topic of discussion among Israelis, or simply that the media terrain has changed so much in the past few years? Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

While so-called leaders of the Palestinian resistance from Fatah and Hamas were traveling to Egypt to hold talks in five star hotels, another group of Palestinians were actually doing work worthy of the words “liberation and resistance.”

By Daoud Kuttab

The decision by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to go to the UN to seek statehood recognition has become a defining element in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

After nearly 20 years of time wasted in useless negotiations, the Palestinian leader has finally decided, in a measured way, to buck the system and carry out an important, unilateral, act.

The Oslo accords do state that neither Palestinians nor Israelis are supposed to take unilateral action that can prejudge the final outcome of negotiations. But while Palestinians obediently respected this clause, the Israelis were busy expanding Jewish colonies, confiscating Palestinian land for Jewish settlements and barring Palestinians from developing outside their restricted city limits. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Israeli security officials have been unable to clearly identify what is happening in the occupied state of Palestine, as the lack of a credible peace process leaves a big vacuum.

Early in January, Colonel Yaniv Alaluf told soldiers the third Intifada has already begun. His statement, which was reproduced in Arab and Israeli media, was intended to reflect the state of uneasiness and unrest the Palestinians are feeling as the window of hope and opportunity quickly shuts down for the young Palestinian population.

While Alaluf’s statement might not be reflected in any major way in the level of violence in the occupied West Bank, it could be true in ways that the Israeli commander probably never realized. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

One of the most important decisions following the UN vote on Palestine was made in the temporary Palestinian capital of Ramallah. Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree on Jan. 6, 2013, calling for the issuance of new passports, driver’s licenses, stamps and other national identification documents all under the title of the State of Palestine. The 337-word decree based the decision on both the Palestinian Basic Law (temporary constitution) of 2003 and the UN resolution of Nov. 29, 2012.

The reaction mostly focused on the change in the title on passports from the Oslo-mandated “Palestinian Authority” to the term “State of Palestine.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a strong rejection of the decision, refusing any action that predetermines the outcome of talks and opposing the UN declaration of a Palestinian state. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Although it is artificial, the end of a year is usually a good time to take stock and to think ahead. Some Palestinians evaluating where they are and assessing their future are cautiously optimistic. Others are downright pessimistic. Like any good debater, one can argue both sides. The reality on the ground, the absence of international will and the potential of a return to an even more right-wing government certainly support pessimistic outlooks.

However, these very same facts as well as some others can give opportunity for a different point of view. The chances that 2013 might witness a political breakthrough in the stalemated Palestinian-Israeli conflict is slim but the Holy Land is where miracles take place, so why not go for an optimistic outlook for a change? Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The long-heralded Palestinian reconciliation is going on for another year despite wishes to the opposite earlier this year.

Thus 2012 began with lots of promises that produced the Doha declaration on Feb. 6  between Hamas’ Khaled Mashal and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also the leader of Fatah. The idea behind that agreement was that the controversial post of Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority be retained by Abbas.

However, even before the ink dried up on the agreement signed in the presence of the Qatari leader Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa, Hamas leaders in Gaza publicly opposed the deal and have worked since to scuttle it. Other attempts at reconciliation with Egyptian mediation have also failed to produce results as of this moment. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The decision by the vast majority of UN members to recognize Palestine as an “observer state” has paved the way for more creative solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

One of the less-talked-about advantages of the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution recognizing Palestine on the 1967 borders is that it permanently ended  Israeli claims that these are disputed, rather than occupied, territories. Israel’s convoluted claims are based on the legal statuses of the West Bank and Gaza Strip prior to their occupation in June 1967. Before Israel’s occupation, the Gaza Strip was administered by Egypt, while the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) was part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Although Israel has unilaterally withdrawn its settlers and troops from Gaza, it has annexed East Jerusalem and has no intention of ceding most of the West Bank, which it calls Judea and Samaria, and considers this land God-given territory for the Jewish people. Continue Reading »