By Daoud Kuttab

Ramallah – In the mid-80s Meron Benvenisti, an Israeli researcher on the West Bank and Gaza, came up with the term irreversibility when referring to the difficulty that will be met to reverse the trend of Jewish settlement activities in the Palestinian territories. His concept, which was well intended and has a lot of merit, has been dealt a blow by the Israeli government and army. Continue Reading »

It was the perfect kind of car, small enough to accommodate my bachelor life style in Palestine, new enough not to give me trouble and old enough so that I wouldn’t worry too much about it when I drive through the rough terrain of  the check post dotted West Bank towns.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The unilateral Israeli decision to withdraw troops and evacuate settlers from the Gaza Strip has thrown a monkey wrench in the works for all parties. Palestinians and other international players have been especially confused as to how to proceed. The answer is: through negotiations — not one-sided actions. Continue Reading »

In the mid-80s Meron Benvenisti, an Israeli researcher on the West Bank and Gaza, came up with the term irreversibility when referring to the difficulty that will be met to reverse the trend of Jewish settlement activities in the Palestinian territories. His concept, which was well intended and has a lot of merit, has been dealt a blow by the Israeli government and army. Continue Reading »

Thirty-eight years after Israeli troops rumbled into the Gaza Strip, Sinai, the West Bank and the Golan Heights, real change on the ground is taking place. Israel is adding the Gaza Strip to Sinai (as well as south Lebanon) on the list of occupied areas that it has decided to abandon. But unlike the Sinai withdrawal, which was completed as part of a peace agreement with Egypt, or the one from south Lebanon, quitting Gaza is different. Much as Palestinian militants would like to attribute Israel’s withdrawal to their acts of resistance, most Palestinians concede that local, regional and international issues, as well as military and political considerations, contributed to the Israeli decision. Continue Reading »

As much as some Palestinian groups would like to claim that Israel’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza this week is a direct result of their military actions, the majority of Palestinians don’t buy into such a simplistic narrative. Nor, however, is the withdrawal a product of what we believed to be the alternative path to liberation from Israeli occupation, a negotiated settlement. Continue Reading »

The withdrawal of Israeli troops and the evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza, after 38 years of occupation, is the most recent proof of the limits of military power, even when that power is overwhelming. Now is the time to take stock of the lessons learned from the years of occupation and resistance in order to understand what Israelis and Palestinians should do next. Continue Reading »

In over 25 years of journalistic reporting, I have never witnessed more confusion in the Palestinian national (and Islamic) movement as I have seen during the past few months.  Israel’s refusal to reveal even the most mundane details of its plans, (even to its American allies), has been the main reason for this state of confusion. Continue Reading »