By Daoud Kuttab

When Palestinian student activists in Kuwait decided that they needed to take matters into their own hands to liberate Palestine, they chose Lebanon as the country that they wanted to launch the first armed attack against the “Zionists” on the first day of 1965.

Those planning for and supporting the attack issued their first press release in Kuwait. They weren’t sure how to sign it. They called their movement Harakat al-Taharur al-Watania al-Falastinia — the Palestinian National Liberation Movement. They wanted a shorter name and tried to figure out the movement’s acronym as a guide. The Arabic acronym, spelled HATF (doom), was unappealing. So the young leaders reversed the letters to come up with Fatah. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

following appeared in the Jordan Times, Dec 19, 2012

Abdel Bari Atwan is well-known to Arab audiences. The editor of the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi is known for his fiery patriotic and anti-Western interviews on major satellite televisions. A major supporter of the Arab revolutions, Atwan lived up to his no-nonsense reputation when he appeared this week on Jordan’s independent station Roya TV. However, something strange happened when the discussion came to the issue of a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation.

The Gaza-born Palestinian, now a UK citizen, was mellow and supportive of the idea on condition that it takes place after Palestinian independence, and not on the basis of the UN declaration of Palestinian statehood. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

King Abdullah’s wishes that Jordan will have three political parties (right center and left) will most certainly be dashed once he hears from the registration results independent election’s commission.  Sixty one parties and lists featuring 824 candidates (among them only 88 women) will be competing for mere 27 national seats in the 150 seat expanded 17the parliament while 698 candidates (among them 196 women) will compete for the remaining 123 local seats.

While it will take years to reach the King’s ideal of three major parties, the closed lists have introduced a system where politicians (and tribal leaders) albeit not so successful to create alliances and coalitions that can bring in the large numbers needed to win nation-wide seats. Continue Reading »

After a hiatus of a few years, we return to our tradition of summarizing the family news in a year end newsletter with photos and other links. The major family news this year is the presence of family and friends from  Jordan and the US for the wedding of our oldest daughter Tamara to Alaa Qasasfa on July 13^th. The event was preceded with a wedding shower in Jordan and followed by a honeymoon in Thailand and a trip for the newlyweds to the US this Christmas. This event was challenging because it was held in two churches, in two different cities, with people having to cross three different borders to attend. For more about this unique wedding read this article. Tamara has excitedly returned to her teaching job at the Jerusalem School (including a short stint with Dina as her assistant) while Alaa has returned to his teaching job at the Bethlehem Bible College. Continue Reading »