Archive for the 'Palestinian politics' Category

Apr 23 2013

Israel, Arabs Reverse Roles On Peace and War

Published by under Articles,Palestinian politics

AlMonitor

 

By Daoud Kuttab

“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” So states the preamble to the constitution of UNESCO. I refer to this passage in light of the Israeli government recently dismissing the efforts of US President Barack Obama and his secretary of state, John Kerry.

While ending the occupation is clearly a decision that must be made by the occupiers, not the occupied, it is interesting to see a role reversal between the Arab and Israeli sides as to which party is interested in peace and which is rejecting all peace overtures.

The US president lavished the Israeli occupiers with praise and words of support in the hope of encouraging them to take a step toward peace. Instead, the moment he left the region, the Israelis reverted to their arrogant, rejectionist behavior. Continue Reading »

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Apr 23 2013

Israeli Occupation Brings Down Fayyad

Published by under Articles,Palestinian politics

AlMonitor

 

By Daoud Kuttab

The outgoing Palestinian prime minister was a unique Palestinian who fought hard against many odds, but in the end was unable to carry the mantle alone and without accommodations from Israel, the US or fellow Arab countries.

What is unique about Salam Fayyad is that he combined true patriotic national service without being tainted by the usual negative side of politics and the corruption that is often associated with a high-ranking position.

Fayyad served with distinction the post of prime minister of a country whose borders are outside his government’s reach with no control over the movement of people and goods within or outside the areas that were under his control. He was a Palestinian patriot without leaving any opening for Israel and its supporters to attack him. He worked tirelessly to establish the foundation of a Palestinian state while being unable to control the politics of the Israeli occupier and the whims of their leaders and US supporters. Continue Reading »

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Apr 23 2013

Israel Bars Gaza Palestinians From Bethlehem Marathon

Published by under Articles,Palestinian politics

AlMonitor

 

By Daoud Kuttab

Sports has often been a national unifying factor. Palestine is no exception.

Palestinian sports has received public and community attention for some time, indeed, ever since the International Olympic committee allowed Palestinian athletes to participate in the Atlanta games in 1996. Majid Abu Maraheel, 32, a distance runner from Gaza and a father of five, was one of three Palestinians who had the honor of carrying the Palestinian flag for the first time in any Olympic meet. Maraheel, a member of the presidential security force, trained for years on the shores of the Mediterranean and thus qualified to run in long-distance races in Atlanta.

Abu Maraheel didn’t win any medals but became a sort of hero among Palestinians for breaking the Olympic ice and raising the Palestinian flag in the United States. Continue Reading »

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Apr 23 2013

Hamas Returns to Student Politics In West Bank

Published by under Articles,Palestinian politics

AlMonitor

 

By Daoud Kuttab

University life and Palestinian nationalism have been inseparable since the 1960s, when the Fatah movement was formed by student activists in Egyptian universities. Since then and throughout the world, Palestinian nationalism has been part of university life, and nowhere more so than in Palestine.

This fact has not gone unnoticed by Islamist student activists. University students supporting the various Islamic movements such as the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad have been very active in various Palestinian universities, often making impressive victories. The Palestinian split between Gaza and the West Bank, as well as between PLO nationalists and Islamists, is reflected in student-council elections. Continue Reading »

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Apr 23 2013

Who Will Replace Salam Fayyad As Palestinian Prime Minister?

Published by under Articles,Palestinian politics

AlMonitor

 

By Daoud Kuttab

In order to predict who will replace the outgoing Palestinian prime minister, one needs to figure out the real reason for Mahmoud Abbas’ acceptance of his resignation. Did Abbas accept Salam Fayyad’s resignation because of his failure to fundraise, or was it because of internal pressure from Abbas’ Fatah movement? Three possible candidates’ profile can answer this question.

If Salam Fayyad’s departure had to do with over-dependency on Western aid and a desire to seek Arab funding, the next Palestinian prime minister could be someone like Rami Hamdallah, the president of the largest Palestinian university, in Nablus, who has been successful in raising funds for this institution of higher education from Arab sources. His appointment could indicate a shift from Western funding to Arab as the main pillar of keeping the Palestinian government and economy afloat. Hamdallah has good relations with Hamas and was a member of the Central Elections Commission, which just completed a successful registration drive in Gaza. He could be a reconciliation candidate that both Fatah and Hamas would be able to live with. Appointing Hamdallah would be a clear shift by the Palestinian leadership and a distancing from near-total dependency on Western aid. Continue Reading »

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Apr 23 2013

Israel Continues to Ignore Arab Peace Offer

AlMonitor

 

By Daoud Kuttab

Something strange happened during the last Arab League summit meeting, held in March in the Qatari capital, Doha. The final announcement, which typically presents the points of agreement reached to by the participating heads of state, was possibly the longest communiqué drafted by an Arab summit. It went on and on, detailing the position of the leaders on almost every issue affecting Arab League members.

Squeezed in among the tens of thousands of words was a reiteration of support for the Arab Peace Initiative approved at the 2002 summit in Beirut. The plan has also been approved by the Organization of Islamic Countries. Thus, all in all, 57 Arab and Islamic states have been on the record for more than ten years in support of a peace plan that guarantees normalization with Israel in return for its withdrawal to the 1967 borders and an agreement to a just resolution to the Palestinian refugee problem. Continue Reading »

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Apr 23 2013

What Will Kerry Accomplish In Palestine?

Published by under Articles,Palestinian politics

AlMonitor

 

By Daoud Kuttab

It is not clear why US Secretary of State John Kerry chose to visit Ramallah and meet with Palestinian leaders before meeting with the Israelis. Is it a gesture to the Palestinians, or does he think he needs to get more out of them this round than from the Israelis? Is it just a scheduling issue related to Jewish holidays?

Whatever the reason, one thing is clear: There is a lot more happening behind the scenes than in public. Observers of previous talks have always said that secrecy is one of the most important conditions for any successful progress in the Middle East.

What is known from the Abbas-Kerry meeting, however, is very important. Continue Reading »

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Apr 08 2013

Book Addresses Forgotten Palestinians of Israel

Published by under Articles,Palestinian politics

AlMonitor

 

By Daoud Kuttab

Haifa University student Rabae Eid’s interruption of US President Barack Obama’s speech in Jerusalem was more than just an act of a radical heckler. The 24-year-old’s rejection of Obama’s demand that Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state echoed the feelings of more than 20% of the population of today’s Israel who are not Jewish.

The story of Palestinians who are citizens of the state of Israel is one of the untold stories of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Palestinians who stayed put in their homes and lands as the state of Israel was being established have been either forgotten or, worse yet, wrongly accused by fellow Arabs of being traitors and a sort of fifth column.

No one tells the story of the Arabs of Israel better than the people who have lived through the decades since the establishment of Israel. And among those, no one better tells their story than Nazareth-based Atallah Mansour, perhaps the most prominent of his generation.

Mansour, who grew up in the Galilee, relates the story of his people in a comprehensive first person narrative in his book Still Waiting for the Dawn. Continue Reading »

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Apr 07 2013

Prisoner, Denied Treatment, Dies Of Cancer in Israeli Prison

Published by under Articles,Palestinian politics

AlMonitor

 

By Daoud Kuttab

When President Barack Obama visited Bethlehem, the loudest group of protesters were families of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have husbands and sons locked up in Israeli jails. Some of the families were demanding that the Israelis honor promises made to release those held from before the Oslo agreements, other families complained that they have not been allowed to meet their loved ones for years. Yet, a third group said sick prisoners were not receiving appropriate medical care. According to the son of Maysara Abu Hamdia, who died Tuesday [April 2] after his cancer went untreated, that is exactly what happened.

Maysara Abu Hamdia, 64, was a colonel with the Palestinian Preventive Security Service in 2002 when he was arrested and charged with multiple offenses, mostly assisting Hamas operatives. According to Tariq Abu Hamdia, the prisoner’s oldest son, the Israelis had nothing on his father. They couldn’t extract a confession and had no serious evidence,” he said in a phone interview from Virginia Tech where he is finishing his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. Continue Reading »

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Apr 07 2013

West Bank Seeing New Wave Of Anti-Israel Violence

Published by under Articles,Palestinian politics

AlMonitor

 

By Daoud Kuttab

The death of Maysara Abu Hamdieh is not the first time a Palestinian prisoner has passed away while behind bars. Less than two months earlier, 30-year-old Arafat Jaradat died while being held in the Megiddo prison. However, the circumstances of the death of Abu Hamdieh, 64, touched a nerve. The fact that he was suffering from an advanced stage of throat cancer and left to die without any serious treatment reflected the sort of mercilessness that incites the anger of an entire nation.

This Palestinian anger is not limited to the lack of medical care in prisons. It comes at a time when a number of prisoners have been on hunger strike for a long period without any response from the Israelis. The lack of response to the strike by prisoners like Samer Issawi, who is being held without trial or charge, has captured the imagination of many inside and outside of Palestine.

Despite attempts by US President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry, who is due in the region Saturday, April 6, Palestinian faith in the peace process is at an all-time low. One reason for the scarcity of optimism is the very political environment that exists in Israeli-Palestinian relations. A peace process is not simply what political leaders do or say in multilateral meetings, but what is happening on the ground.  And on the ground in Palestine today, there isn’t even an attempt to prepare the environment for any future peace talks. Continue Reading »

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