Fateh, Hamas, PFLP, DFLP, Jihad Islami – these are some of the names of guerrilla movements that have dominated the Palestinian political scene.The modern Palestinian liberation movement began with various PLO factions; en route, it picked up Islamic anti-occupation movements. Each of these groupings has a military and a political wing. The public at large is often unable to distinguish between individuals and positions of the military and political wings. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Of course, Arabs are still unhappy with the continued US bias in favour of Israel. Its inability to end the 44-year military occupation of Palestinian lands has not gone unnoticed. But many Arabs nowadays prefer to give the US a break. Continue Reading »

Daoud Kuttab

Who is responsible for the sudden escalation of the situation in the Gaza Strip? All of a sudden rockets are coming out from Gaza after a period of calm and Israel tanks are shelling residential areas, which killed four members of the Helu family in the Shejaiya refugee camp in the Strip. This was followed by the bus bombing that killed an Israeli women and injured tens. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Popular uprisings are not new to Palestinians who introduced the term Intifada to the world in 1987. In fact many in Palestine feel that they broke the barrier of fear – a prerequisite for going out in the streets against brutal, violent crackdowns – long before the youth in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain. Continue Reading »

For the first time in many months, Palestinian spokesmen appear to indicate a revisit of their political strategy towards liberation and independence.It is not clear what the new ideas are, but it is obvious that Palestinian plans focusing on a September landmark seem to be in question.

The present Palestinian strategy is based on the idea that by the fall of 2011, Palestine will be accepted in the United Nations as a full member. The date corresponds to the two-year plan launched by the Palestinian president. In August 2009, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced a unilateral plan to establish a de facto Palestinian state in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. following a two-year state-building process. The date was picked up by the US President Barack Obama in his speech at the UN General Assembly last fall, where he said that the United States hopes that Palestine will become a full member of the UN by the fall of 2011. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Many activists in Palestine believe that they are the inventors of the concept of popular uprisings in the modern Arab history. After all, many say, the Palestinian Intifada has been hailed as a shining example of an entire people rising up in unison against a ruthless aggressor.Palestinians know very well what it means to break the barrier of fear and what it means to expose the bare chest to the live ammunition of an aggressive security regime. Clandestine youth leadership that works behind the scenes to organise and energise an entire population is something that has the signature of Palestine all over it. Continue Reading »

Why does the US boycott one of its own citizens who happens to be the Christian mayor of Bethlehem? This has been the case regarding Victor Batarseh, the elected mayor of the Palestinian town of Bethlehem.<img alt=”2011-02-08-kuttab.jpg” src=”http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2011-02-08-kuttab.jpg” width=”450″ height=”605″ />

Batarseh, a Roman Catholic physician and a U.S. citizen, ran in the municipal elections in 2005 on an independent list of three Christians and seven Muslims. While the seven Muslims on his list lost, he and two other candidates won membership in the council. Later he was chosen by the elected city counselors to be the mayor of the city, Batarseh won the mayorship in part by pro-Hamas candidates. The city’s tradition has always been that the mayor of the birthplace of Christ should be a local Christian. Continue Reading »

We must speak out

By Daoud Kuttab, International Herald Tribune

For years, the Palestinian struggle for freedom and liberation from a foreign military occupation was criticized as two-faced. The late Yasser Arafat was dubbed a terrorist in sheep’s clothing; his attempts to simultaneously use military and political means to accomplish Palestinian goals were rejected by the Western world.

Continue Reading »

Some Palestinian activists of the Islamic Hamas movement were detained by the Abbas-Fayyad government in a general crackdown against armed resistance movements that sees attempts by the Palestinian Authority to apply the rule of law in the occupied territories as part of the Palestinian leadership’s commitment to the international community. Of course, in return for this, the Israelis were obliged (according to the roadmap) to freeze all settlement activities as the two parties prepare for peace talks that are aimed at ending the occupation and creating an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state. Continue Reading »

After the strong beginnings of 2009, during the Obama administration’s first days in office, 2010 began on a cautious note on the Palestinian cause.

There were some promising signs: the Israeli government partially froze its settlement activities; indirect talks commenced and there was hope that in one crucial area all seemed all in agreement, the need to delineate the borders of the future Palestinian state. Such agreement would have allowed negotiators to be relieved of the weight of settlement activities.

After seeing settlers nearly triple in the 18 years since the beginning of the Oslo process, the Palestinians were no longer willing to belittle the need for the suspension of settlement activities. Israelis, the theory went, also needed the border issue settled so as not to have to keep worrying about the pressure of continuously being asked to suspend settlements. Continue Reading »