By Daoud Kuttab

Despite the Israelis’ initial claims that their efforts have partially succeeded in shelving a pro-Palestinian vote at UNESCO, the story that is emerging now is quite different. Palestinian and Arab officials say the delay in the vote that had been planned for July 20 in Istanbul was postponed due to the failed coup attempt in Turkey.

Omar Awadallah, the director of UN activities at the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Al-Monitor that UNESCO had postponed voting on all resolutions, not just the one on extending the declaration that Jerusalem’s Old City meets UNESCO’s criteria for being endangered. “Due to the security uncertainty connected to the failed coup in Turkey, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee decided to postpone all decisions until it meets again in Paris in October,” said Awadallah.

Kuwait’s permanent delegate to UNESCO, Meshal Hayat, echoed this position in a press release issued by the Arab Group at UNESCO, saying the suspension was due to the “current tensions in Turkey.” In the July 17 press release appropriately titled “Israel’s false allegation,” the Arab Group paints a picture that contradicts the Israeli story, quoting the Palestinian ambassador to UNESCO. It read, “Ambassador Mounir Anastas explained that what happened at the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in Istanbul today is exactly the opposite of the Israeli claims, clarifying that the consultations that have been conducted in Istanbul within the World Heritage Committee showed that there was a consensus among all the committee members, including the EU members, to adopt the decision by consensus and without a vote. This is despite [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s outrageous campaign against the decision, and the Israeli strong opposition and diplomatic efforts to thwart it.” Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The story was totally false, but that didn’t stop the Israeli media machine from milking it all the way.

The postponement of a UNESCO resolution slamming Israel for the dangers it is causing to Jerusalem’s heritage was termed as a “partial victory” for Israel.

The Israeli prime minister and the Israeli hasbara (propaganda) machine have been livid since April, when UNESCO approved a resolution that confirms the usage of the name Haram Al Sharif/Al Aqsa Mosque to refer to Islam’s third holiest shrine.

Israel is angry over the international organisation’s refusal to call the mosque area the “Temple Mount”, a reference to what most Jews believe is the former location of the Jewish Temple that historians say was destroyed in 70 AD.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee was meeting between July 10 and 20 to discuss a number of issues, including a Palestinian/Jordanian request to keep Jerusalem as one of 55 world sites that are in danger. Jordan had in 1982 added the Old City of Jerusalem to the list and the issue had to be voted on again. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The request for a travel permit seemed terribly innocent. An international filmmaker was debuting a film about Israeli and Palestinian peace activists and wanted the Palestinian activist to be present at the premier in West Jerusalem. But the Israeli authorities denied Shifa al-Qudsi‘s request.

Stephen Apkon and Andrew Young’s “Disturbing the Peace,” about a brave group of Israelis and Palestinians, was screened July 14 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. The film features four Israelis and four Palestinians, including Qudsi, who are part ofCombatants for Peace, a nonviolent organization originally made up exclusively of members who had participated in the conflict as armed combatants on one side or the other. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

“We haven’t had water for nearly 40 days,” a caller to the Voice of Palestine radio station told the presenter of the show July 8. The caller lives in the picturesque village of Artas, southwest of Bethlehem, which is known for its fertile land and imposing monastery. Residents of the village are the latest victims of this summer’s extreme water shortage that has hit many parts of Palestine, but especially the Bethlehem governorate.

Calling himself a social activist, Salah said that the protest that began July 9 was completely spontaneous. “We don’t belong to any political party; we are Palestinians who simply want the water problem to be solved,” he said. The videos that Salah posted on his Facebook page show young people in the center of the town chanting “Bidna may” (“We want water”).

Salah said that the governor of Bethlehem agreed to meet with the protesters and promised them that water would reach the village by July 11. At exactly 6 p.m. that evening, once it became clear that al-Khader was still without running water, the youth were out protesting once more. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

One of the lessons professional journalists have learned over the years is that objectivity and balance can sometimes be wrongly used.

If, as a journalist, you are witnessing rain, you are not obliged to report that one side says it is raining and the other side says it is not. You have an obligation to your audience to tell it simply that it is raining.

Such false balance is often seen in conflict-resolution cases where the side attempting to mediate a case where one side is clearly guilty and failing to act to resolve the conflict, presents a “balanced” solution to a skewed situation, accusing each side of committing some kind of mistake.

This false balance naturally produces an angry response from the side that is actively trying to produce a solution.

In its attempt at striking balance in the asymmetrical Palestinian-Israeli situation, the Quartet, made up of the US, UN, EU and Russia, balances Israel’s nearly 50 years of military occupation and illegal colonial settlements with Palestinians’ “incitement to violence”.

The often-repeated accusations that Palestinian school textbooks and media are instruments of incitement to violence have long been scientifically debunked even though they were regularly repeated by Israeli officials and Israeli apologists. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

When the international community recently slammed Israel’s illegal settlement activities, Israel’s Prime Minister responded that the problem is not settlements but Palestinian incitement. Benjamin Netanyahu also has rejected that Israeli troops controlling Palestinian lands are an occupational force, again insisting that the real problem is Palestinian schools books and tv stations inciting innocent Palestinians to carry out acts of violence against the benevolent Israelis.
In its attempt at balance in an asymmetrical situation,  the Quartet made up of the UN, EU, Russia and the US  has also given prominence to the issue of “incitement to violence.”
The accusations that Palestinians school textbooks and media are instruments of incitement to violence have long been scientifically debunked even though they have been regularly repeated by Israeli officials and Israeli apologists.
The claim that Palestinians teach their children hate has been rejected by tens of American and European as well as Israeli and Palestinians academic studies since the turn of the millennium. A 2005 US congressional bipartisan report asserted that Palestinian textbooks “ do not incite Palestinians towards anti-Jewish violence or constitute a “war curriculum.” Europe’s’ Chris Patent was angry about accusations that the EU funds Palestinians textbooks full of hate that  he ordered a full investigation that of course found the accusation to be untrue. “It is a total fabrication that the European Union has funded textbooks with anti-Semitic arguments within them in Palestinian schools. It is a complete lie,” Patten said afterwards. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Every psychologists or substance advisor will tell you that you can’t deal with disease or an addiction or any other problem without first recognizing that there is a problem. The same applies to the decades old Middle East conflict.

The conflict has long passed the stage of being focused entirely about Israel’s existence; the world recognizes Israel on the June 1967 border. The PLO in 1993 recognized Israel and exchanged letters of recognition, even President Bill Clinton was witness to the 1998 vote in the Palestinian National Council meeting in Gaza that amended the PLO charter that removed all clauses to the contrary of the PLO-Israel memorandum of Understanding, also known as the Oslo Accords.

Professor Cornell West is absolutely right as he pleaded with the Democratic Party’s platform committee to be honest and truthful and call things by their names. Professor West and his colleagues lost the vote in the Hillary majority committee 5-8 and had to abstain in the vote for the entire platform due to the failure of fellow members willing to call the situation for which Palestinian are suffering under as occupation. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The holy month of Ramadan is an opportunity for people to gather in unison as they break their fast. This year, the key topic among Palestinians has been the issue of the Palestinian presidential succession.

The various post-Mahmoud Abbas scenarios have engulfed talks in almost every home or restaurant that Palestinians have gathered in. While the consensus among Palestinians is that the next Palestinian leader must have impeccable nationalist credentials, most agree that such an individual must also pass through some sort of vetting process by Arab countries and the international community.

While some well-known names, such as former Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, might come up for discussion, most accept that short of a free and fair general election of all Palestinians, this succession process will most certainly take place within the ruling Fatah movement. Within such a scenario, most people naturally expect to see Abbas’ successor come from one of the movement’s 20 Central Committee members.

For Palestinians living in the occupied territories today, part of the qualifications for leadership is often experiencing the tough conditions of living under occupation including paying the sacrifice of being in prison. This puts individuals such as Marwan Barghouti — who has been serving multi-lifetime terms in an Israel jail since 2002 — as the No. 1 candidate. But Barghouti’s imprisonment puts him at a disadvantage in terms of availability and even doubt whether he has the needed support from Arab countries and the United States. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Like so many locations, Palestine’s first airport has three names, each reflecting a different narrative. When it was established in 1920 by the British mandatory government of Palestine, it was given the name “Jerusalem Airport.” A photo taken in 1969 after the 1967 Israeli occupation reflects the original name, albeit with the Hebrew lettering placed above the English and Arabic names.

Palestinians often refer to the airport, which is located near the Palestinian village of Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, as Qalandia Airport. The term has gained popularity since 1948. The Qalandia refugee camp erected near the village also carries the same name, as does the infamous Qalandia checkpoint not far from the town and the airport strip. Palestinian filmmaker Nahed Awwad has reflected on the history of the Qalandia Airport in a documentary titled “5 Minutes from Home” and an article in the Journal of Palestine Studies. The film reflects the extreme Palestinian yearning for times past when travel by airport was very much available without the current hassles of crossing the bridge to Jordan.

But as history is written by the victors, the only name that has a Wikipedia entry is that of Atarot Airport — while the subtext gives the names of Jerusalem and Qalandia. The Israeli media has given the airport the name Atarot Airport in reference to a Jewish moshav (cooperative) settlement that carries the name that has a Biblical reference in Joshua 16:2. Atarot Moshav lies close to the current location of the airport. The moshav was abandoned in the 1948 war and was re-established as an industrial park after the 1967 Israeli occupation. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Samia Danna, a young Palestinian woman from Jerusalem, is worried about how she will get through Ramadan this year. Danna works in Ramallah at a communications company, and the holy month has arrived while she is six months pregnant. Although Islam exempts pregnant women and others (the sick, travelers and women menstruating) from the all-day fasting ritual, Danna was worried that she wouldn’t be able to find a restaurant open from which to order lunch.

Responding to Al-Monitor by email, Danna said that she has not had a problem finding food. “While many restaurants are closed, many restaurants whose owners are Christians are open,” she reported, ticking off the names of some half dozen eateries in Ramallah that are open during the day.

In Bethlehem, the situation is no different. Jeryies Sadi’s family rents a number of shops, including a restaurant on trendy Karkafe Street. “The local government in Bethlehem has no problem with people eating on the streets, and restaurants are open here,” Sadi told Al-Monitor. Continue Reading »