Palestinians living in the occupied territories are clutching at straws these days. The one-month public servants strike which crippled all public institutions and kept hundreds of thousands of Palestinian students in the streets does not seem any closer to a resolution. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Jerusalem. – At the close of last year, I was commissioned by an international NGO called Search for Common Ground to write about my expectations of the new year. United Press International ran my piece under the title “2006, year of hope”.

My piece began with this quote: “Political changes in Palestine and Israel, as well as changes in attitudes in both societies and in the international community, provide a rare glimmer of hope that important changes on the ground are a serious possibility.” Continue Reading »

by  Daoud Kuttab

For 39 years of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, Palestinians have been able to survive through a variety of mechanisms. Being under occupation, Palestinians were able to discover ways to beat the system. Before the Palestinian Authority was established, non-governmental organisations created a state-like infrastructure that dealt with people’s needs.

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By Daoud Kuttab

Two months before the Palestinian election, I met in Ramallah with Hassan Yousef, a senior West Bank leader of Hamas. Talking to him before he began an interview on our Ramallah TV station about the upcoming elections, Yousef told me that it would be wrong for Hamas to win more than 25 per cent of the Palestinian Legislative Council seats. Continue Reading »

Hamas has a government, so now what?
By Daoud Kuttab

Having just formed a Palestinian government, Hamas seems to be clutching to the Biblical verses in Ecclesiastes rather than the desires of the “Quartet” (the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations) charged with trying to bridge the Israeli-Palestinian divide. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven,” fits Hamas’ current agenda because its priorities and timeframe are different from those of the international community, which is pressing it to make immediate political declarations – most importantly, to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Continue Reading »

While Palestinians have regularly celebrated the International Women’s Day on March 8, celebrations this year had a different taste. The victory of the conservative Islamic movement Hamas has reinvigorated Palestinian civil society in general and the women’s movement in particular. This year’s pro-women march in Ramallah, which ended with a meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas, was well attended, by nearly a thousand women, interestingly many of them with headscarves. Continue Reading »

The following appeared in the Jordan Times

Daoud Kuttab

The results of the Palestinian elections continue to reverberate throughout the occupied territories, with a surprising positive reaction even from many liberal circles. With some of the information about the campaign and the mood of the Palestinians becoming known, it is clear that connecting the Palestinian Authority with corruption was clearly one of the main reasons for the success of Hamas. Continue Reading »

Integrating Hamas into the political mainstream will contribute in deescalating the cycle of violence

By: Daoud Kuttab*

Ramallah – On the surface of it, the resolution of the US congress and the statements of Javier Solana of the EU threatening to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority if it allows the Islamic movement “Hamas” to participate in the upcoming legislative elections seems in tune with the west’s anti terror policy. But the fact is that the resolution demands of Palestinians more than what the Israeli government the EU and the US administrations have demanded. Congress and Solana have missed the ball and have clearly taken sides in this conflict. Continue Reading »

Daoud Kuttab

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is not in a comfortable position these days. He seems like a nice, fatherly figure in not so nice a neighbourhood. He heads a party (or a movement) which has last held a congress of its activists more than 15 years ago.

He is caught between old leaders, most of whom came to Palestine from abroad, and new leaders who had been part of the Intifada. He is the commander in chief who is unable to secure and protect the Central Election Commission offices. He has an Israeli counterpart who pays little attention to him despite his repeated position against the militarisation of the Intifada. Continue Reading »

Daoud Kuttab

What has been expected for some time has finally materialized. The leading Palestinian national movement, Fatah, is coming of age as a political party rather than a national movement.

The on-again, off-again Fatah primaries have revealed the movement’s chaos in the aftermath both of the loss of its historic leader and the long-overdue convening of the sixth general assembly. While Palestine has witnessed presidential elections and, very belatedly, municipal elections, neither do as much to revive the blood of the body politic as parliamentary elections. The legislative elections due late in January will be only the second such balloting in Palestine’s history. Continue Reading »