By Daoud Kuttab

The Palestinian leadership seems to be on the verge of change. It is very likely that this will be the last year that Palestine will be led by the PLO’s Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas’ Khaled Meshaal.

Abbas announced over a year ago that he does not plan to run for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority once such elections take place. All efforts to organize national reconciliation with Hamas and to resolve the West Bank-Gaza dispute through elections have failed.Two weeks ago, in a heated meeting of the Palestinian leadership, Abbas suggested West-Bank-only presidential elections so that he can be relieved of his position in an orderly manner. His suggestion for November elections was turned down and, according to a Gulf-based publication, he asked the Palestinian leadership to nominate someone to replace him within 10 days of his return from the New York trip. The Forward published a similar statement. Jewish leaders who met Abbas were told by the Palestinian leader that he expects to exit the political scene within a few months. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Anyone following the Palestinian struggle for liberation understands that the only path to success today is through a concerted, holistic, non-violent approach.

Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, have been repeatedly and consistently opposing any violent solution and supporting acts of popular non-violent resistance. Recently, they even succeeded in convincing the leaders of the Islamic Hamas movement to utter the words “popular resistance,” even if Hamas has not acted on them.

Using non-violence requires a high degree of discipline, and sophisticated media and public relations approach. The entire premise of this form of struggle is based on the need to win the hearts and minds of one’s opponents, as well as of those in countries that are supporting one’s adversaries. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

After years of travel restrictions, Israel last month opened up its borders to many (not all, of course) Palestinians from the West Bank. In Nablus alone, 17,000 permits were issued out of 25,000 applications. Certain age groups were allowed in without a permit.

The occasion was the holy month of Ramadan, but there is no denial that a decision was taken somewhere in the Israeli military establishment to loosen up the big prison that millions of Palestinians find themselves in.  Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The past two and a half decades witnessed the slow death of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The PLO, established in June 1964 by the Arab League and then taken over internally by the various resistance movements, led by Fateh, is credited with the unification of the Palestinians in the diaspora. It is also seen as the main factor that reignited the Palestinian identity in pursuit of national liberation. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The belief in Palestine is that the office of the president is responsible for major national and international policies and initiatives, while the office of the prime minister is responsible for executing these policies.

For the most part, this has been the norm in Palestine’s temporary capital, Ramallah. The West Bank-Gaza split and attempts to reunite the two Palestinian enclaves have been solely the responsibility of President Mahmoud Abbas. Until now. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Something deep and painful was broken in Ramallah this week: along with the bones broken by violent Palestinian plainclothes and official security officials dealing with a protest, Palestinian trust was permanently wounded.

The protests were called for by non-partisan youth protesting the intended, unprecedented, visit by the Israeli vice premier, Shaul Mofaz, to Ramallah. Palestinian protesters made a strong argument for their opposition to the Mofaz visit. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stunned Israelis Tuesday morning with a political shocker. He convinced his largest opposition leader, Shaul Mofaz, to join the coalition, thus cancelling early elections scheduled for September.

Speaking to the media, Netanyahu said that the coalition agreement (called by some in the Israeli media a stink bomb) is good for the stability of his government and for Israel.

His new coalition partner, who will now become Israel’s first deputy prime minister, listed four areas of agreement as the basis for this partnership. The two parties will develop a replacement for the Tal Law that used to exempt religious students from the Israeli army; they will pass a new budget; Israel’s political system will be revamped and the new coalition is said to push ahead the peace process. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The question seemed simple. A European official wanted to know if the peace was just around the corner, or far away.

On the surface of it, one can tick off a number of positive signals. Palestinian and Israeli negotiators recently exchanged letters outlying their various political positions as to the best way forward. Israel’s current expanded coalition government is large enough to be able to take difficult decisions without the fear of any small faction blackmailing the government. Europe seems to be united in its single-minded push to ensure that the peace process moves forward without any more delay. The U.S. will most likely return to the issue after the November elections. The Arab Spring is moving forward and bringing more popularly supported leaders who are unlikely to be very friendly to Israel. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

For years the Arab world has been searching for the perfect Arab democratic model. Progressive young Arabs want a Western-style democratic model, but older democrats argue that we have to discover our own model, not copy and paste models from this or that country.

Islam, of course, confused this search. Islamists appeared to want an Islamic model that no one could explain or point to an existing example. Iran was not seen as a successful model and neither was Afghanistan. Turkey was touted by some as a model, although the country is totally secular even if its current leader has an Islamic approach. Continue Reading »