By Daoud Kuttab

During the Israeli reoccupation of major Palestinian cities in 2002, the Israeli army took over the building that was housing Al Quds University’s Educational Television station, of which I was the director at the time. After 19 days, Israeli soldiers withdrew from Ramallah, leaving behind destroyed equipment. Some of the equipment destroyed had been donated by the US government.

A similar problem occurred in 2011 when Israeli special troops raided Wattan TV and Al Quds Educational TV, confiscating the transmitters and destroying computers and other equipment, again some of which had been purchased with a grant from the “American people”.

In both cases, when US officials in Jerusalem and Washington were informed of the destruction of the equipment, they chose to quietly purchase replacement equipment rather than chastise Israel for its unprovoked act of destruction. No statement was made and there was no public attempt to hold Israeli accountable.

I recall these rather minor cases this week because of the initiative by US Secretary of State John Kerry’s plan to invest about $4 billion in the Palestinian economy.

To be fair, Kerry said that this would not be a US-only investment but that other major world powers would chip in to cover this fund. The US secretary of state also stated that this economic investment will not replace the political process, but will be parallel to it. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

On the same day as the World Economic Forum was holding its dramatic closing session with back-to-back speeches from President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli President Shimon Peres and US Secretary of State John Kerry, I was mourning the passing of a dear friend’s mom.

Abbas reiterated the Palestinian government’s total commitment to peace and security, practically begging the Israelis to allow his local police to receive the small shipment of arms that has been rotting in Jordan for years. Peres, the president without much power, contradicted his own prime minister by embracing the Arab Peace Initiative and begging the Palestinians to come to the negotiating table, where they are bound to be surprised.

Finally, Kerry sounded even more desperate to see through some change in the Middle East’s most intractable conflict. One of his solutions is to throw money at the Palestinian-Israeli impasse. Kerry waved $4 billion to the Palestinians, money he said he has received in investment commitments from Japanese, European and others (not clear how much from the United States). Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

After Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy and Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy, the Middle East seems to be getting to know John Kerry’s “shawarma diplomacy.” The US secretary of state stepped out of the usually scripted diplomatic itinerary and walked the streets of the Palestinian town of al-Bireh to enjoy a quick shawarma sandwich and some kenafeh sweets. The American diplomat took time to chat with Palestinian shopowners and has been quoted as stressing how badly the United States wants to have peace in the Middle East and how committed the Obama administration is to that cause.

Shawarma is a local street food. Large patties of meat are pressed together on a skewer and continually roasted as the person working the rotisserie cuts the freshly cooked meat, which is then wrapped in a pita stuffed with a variety of greens. Kerry, who seemed familiar with the oriental sandwich, ordered all the options except for hot sauce.

It is not difficult to understand Kerry’s gesture. He clearly wanted to encourage the reluctant Palestinians to take a leap of faith and agree to engage the Israelis.  Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

If physical access is an important requirement for good journalism, the ability of Palestinians and Israelis to cover their ongoing conflict is largely compromised. This is one of the issues raised by a delegation of the International Press Institute (IPI) that visited Palestine and Israel in February.

The mission sponsored by the Vienna-based nongovernmental organization produced “Patriotism, Pressure and Press Freedom: How Israeli and Palestinian Media Cover the Conflict from Inside,” a 37-page report based on interviews with more than 50 media practitioners in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. The report focuses initially on how local media covered the November 2012 Israeli war on Gaza, but a closer look at the report’s recommendations zooms in on restrictions on journalists’ freedom of movement as the biggest problem facing members of the Palestinian and Israeli press. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The political stalemate in Palestine and Israel over the two-state solution has finally provoked Palestinians from the occupied territories to declare a strategic change in direction of the one-state solution.

Palestinian activists from different political persuasions and careers paths have made a declaration for a democratic state for all its citizens on the 65th anniversary of the Nakba. One of the founders of the new Popular Movement for One Democratic State, a veteran leader of Fatah, said that it is much different than the PLO’s call for a secular democratic state which Israel has often attacked as an attempt to negate the existence of Israel and the Jewish people.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Radi Jarai said that this democratic movement has absolutely no limitations on its citizens between Jews and Palestinians. “We will respect the Israel law of return 1951 and will also defend the Palestinians’ right of return.” Jarai, who spent years in an Israel prison, said that the democratic state that he and his friends are calling for can be “a refuge for Jews and Palestinians.” Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

On the surface, the issue seems rather futile. The Israeli government, which has built hundreds of exclusively Jewish settlements in the occupied territories in violation of international law, is being criticized for “legalizing” four of these illegal settlements. What is it about “outposts” that makes them different from other settlements? A deeper look at the issue reveals decades of attempts to fool the international community about Israel’s commitment to peace.

To understand the difference, it is important to go back to the beginning of this century. The US and its allies were preparing to go to war against Iraq (after having already gone to war against Afghanistan in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001). To minimize potential anti-Americanism, the Bush administration leaned on its Israeli allies not to carry out any actions that would provoke the anger of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. The US attempts to simultaneously restart Palestinian-Israeli talks required that Israel refrain from any further official settlement activity.

As a result of this situation, the pro-settlement right-wing Israeli leader Ariel Sharon looked for ways to avoid carrying out any official settlement activity while wanting to disrupt any negotiations that could lead to Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. It was during this period in 2002 that then-prime minister Sharon called for Israeli settlers “… to capture the hilltops in the occupied West Bank before losing them to Palestinians in negotiations.” Within a short time, 221 illegal Israeli settlement outposts were established. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The news out of Cairo regarding Palestinian reconciliation efforts appears to be generally positive. The delegation headed by senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk and Fatah’s Azzam al-Ahmad met and agreed on a package deal that seems to address all the outstanding issues between the two parties. Statements issued in Cairo and published on the official websites of both groups are identical, which is a good sign. Details of the emerging agreement appear to indicate that the major outstanding tests needed for success have been passed:

• The composition of a new national unity government should be agreed to within one to three months.
• Once the composition of the government is resolved, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will issue a presidential decree to that effect and simultaneously present another calling for parliamentary and presidential elections in the West Bank and Gaza.
• Hamas and Fatah delegations will meet to finalize agreements on an election law, the work of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and a mechanism for selecting a unified Palestinian National Council (PNC), the highest body within the Palestine Liberation Organization.
• A meeting headed by the current PNC chairman, Salim Zanoun, will take place in Amman on May 21 to begin the final push toward agreement on the mechanism for choosing the members of the next PNC. This meeting is to conclude within two weeks.
• Both sides agree to the role of Egypt as sole arbitrator for the reconciliation process. Continue Reading »

The following appeared in Jordan Times.

By Daoud Kuttab

Whether the Jordanian government likes it or not, the Jordanian-Palestinian agreement and the mood of the people regarding Jerusalem require it to take a new look at the situation in the holy city.

Forty-six years ago Israel occupied Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank. Since then much has happened on the issue of Palestinian nationalism, the PLO and the emergence of the need for an independent Palestinian state. But while it is accepted that Palestinian statehood will take place on Palestinian soil (and not in Jordan as right-wing Israelis at one time wanted), the final status of Jerusalem has remained in doubt. Israel insists in no uncertain terms that the unified city of Jerusalem will continue to be part of Israel while Palestinians talk about East Jerusalem being the capital, and therefore part and parcel, of the independent state of Palestine. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

One of the hardest decisions that a political leader has to take is when to engage in negotiations and when to refrain. This has been the dilemma facing Palestinian leaders for decades. At times they are blamed for refusing to engage and at other times their engagement has given the other side a cover to keep doing what they were doing before the talks.

For years the Israelis have been repeating the statement made by Israel’s UN ambassador thatArabs don’t miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. In 1993, Palestinians did engage Israel in a process that many thought would lead to a genuine breakthrough, only to find themselves two decades later in a much worse position than they were when the Oslo accords were signed. Twice as many settlers are now living in illegal Jewish-only settlements in Palestinian areas compared with before the famous handshake at the White House Lawn between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.

Both leaders have since died unnatural deaths but the peace for which Shimon Peres received an advance payment in the form of a Nobel Peace Prize has not materialized. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has called on the Palestinian leadership to stay relevant and engaged. The outgoing prime minister, who is heading a caretaker government, made this plea from his office in Ramallah.

In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with Al-Monitor, Fayyad explains the reason for his optimistic outlook despite the general pessimism. An unexpected event could trigger a breakthrough, he argues. It could be as simple as the video of Ahmad from Hebron, he said, referring to a YouTube video that has gone viral in which a 15-year-old Palestinian boy innocently asks an Israeli soldier coming to arrest him if he could postpone the arrest one day because he has an important test at school. Continue Reading »