the following appeared in Jordan Times

By Daoud Kuttab

The conference we were invited to was important. Called for by the Gaza Centre for Press Freedoms, the event was aimed at addressing and developing the local Palestinian media in Gaza.

I was invited as part of an international media support delegation and all appropriate permits were secured. The Palestinian government in Gaza issued everyone individual visas with their photos and passport number, the Egyptian authorities were notified and the necessary coordination was established.

The Egyptians were informed that a nine-person delegation that included individuals with British, Danish, American, and Croatian passports would be entering Gaza via Rafah.

Because Israel destroyed (physically) the Gaza International Airport that had been opened with a visit by US president Bill Clinton shortly after the beginning of the second Intifada, other routes had to be found. The most convenient way to get to Rafah is through the city of Al Arish, often described as the capital of Sinai. But because the only days Palestine Airlines flies in from Amman did not concur with our conference days, we had to drive in from Cairo. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Palestinian music sensation Mohammed Assaf is unlikely to appear in any location in Jerusalem, but the winner of the second season of “Arab Idol” is certainly present in East Jerusalem. Since Assaf’s win, the cobbled streets of the old city have been rocking with his voice, as his flagship song “Alii al-Kofia Alii” and others are played over and over by music stores, as well as cafes, tourist shops and grocery stores. Assaf’s handsome Gazan face enamored storefront windows throughout Salah Eddin Street, the city’s main business thoroughfare.

The success of this Palestinian refugee didn’t come easy, which made his victory that much more meaningful. Assaf’s story of how he arrived late in Cairo for the audition and how he had to climb the walls of the hotel where the audition was taking place to make the line-up, only to find he didn’t have the needed participant registration card. His mother’s role in encouraging him, and the generosity of a fellow Palestinian contestant who heard his impromptu singing and gave Assaf his registration card, has become part of the Palestinian lore repeated and added to by the public. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

A rather underreported issue about the way Palestinians are treated is emerging. Countries that control borders through which Palestinians need to travel act as though they were the guardians for what they deem best for Palestinians. Four different bodies today are using their powers to limit the movement of people and goods from and to various Palestinian territories. Ironically, the Ramallah-based Palestinian government is not one of them.

While travel restrictions refer to both entry and exit, what is strange is that these four powers use this control to prevent people from exiting without actually accusing them of anything. Such arbitrary decisions are often made under the pretext of being in the best interest of the people that they are restricting. When it comes to freedom of travel, the four key groups who have appointed themselves the guardians for Palestinians are the Hamas government, Egypt, Jordan and Israel. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Press reports in Palestine covering the Hamdallah-Abbas controversy focused on the mode of transportation. When after 16 days in office he decided to resign as prime minister on June 22, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah drove to his home in Anabta using his own car without a driver or an entourage. He went to the president’s Ramallah office in al-Muqata at 6 p.m. in the same manner. But when he left al-Muqata, the full security entourage accompanied Hamdallah home. Some interpreted that as a retraction to his resignation. It wasn’t. Abbas and Hamdallah seem to have agreed on an orderly — rather than an abrupt — transitional period in which the latter stays in as a caretaker prime minister until a new premier is found.

The resignation drama started on June 20, with unsourced press reports that Hamdallah had submitted his resignation because of unclear lines of responsibility, reflecting a much larger legitimacy problem. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

The effects of decades-old occupation are often debated in public events in a cold and unemotional way. The reality for people living the occupation is a totally different story.

Writing on her Facebook page this week, Suheir Farraj talks about the conviction of her son Ismail by an Israeli military judge for the huge crime of belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The legal status of the PFLP, one of the main factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is confusing. On the one hand, the PFLP through its membership in the PLO has recognized Israel and has ceased its guerrilla activities against Israel.  After Oslo, a number of the PFLP’s leadership abroad were allowed to return. PFLP Secretary-General Abu Ali Mustafa was allowed to return by Israel in 1999 only to be assassinated by Israel in August 2001.

Israel has never officially taken the PFLP off its list of “terrorist” organizations. So an act as simple as setting up chairs at a PFLP rally at a local Palestinian university, which Ismail is accused of, is considered a crime by the Israeli occupiers. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

“We agreed that all relevant parties must work urgently for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. We support a two-state solution with an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors. We call for the necessary steps to build trust and urge the parties to work toward the resumption of direct negotiations without preconditions, taking note of the Sept. 23, 2011, statement of the Middle East Quartet. We affirm our support for the Palestinian Authority and its state-building efforts and encourage the international community to extend the fullest assistance possible to revitalizing the Palestinian economy.“

The above statement is part of the final communiqué of the leaders of the Group of Eight countries that met Tuesday in Northern Ireland. Continue Reading »

Following appeared in today’s Jordan Times

by Daoud Kuttab | Jun 19, 2013 | 23:33

War is a terrible thing with extremely bad results. But this does not mean people should not be ready for it, even if such a possibility is very remote.

Washington’s decision to arm the Syrian rebels (albeit lightly) and the announcement by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi that his country will cut off all diplomatic relations with Syria do not bode well for a quick and peaceful solution to the civil war that has been raging on in Syria for the past two years.

Some Jordanian officials and members of Parliament have asked that the Syrian ambassador to Jordan be considered persona non grata because of some anti-Jordanian statements he made recently.

The decision to ask the US to keep the Patriot anti-missile defence system and to keep the squadron of F16 fighters in Jordan is a hint that a war, or being on the receiving side of a war, is not such a remote possibility. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Music and art festivals are common occurrences in the summer the world over. But the Bet Lahem Live festival held in Bethlehem this week had a higher calling: mixing music and entertainment with the need to strengthen the steadfastness of Palestinians and a special focus on Palestinian Christians.

The Bet Lahem festival organized by the Holy Land Trust, a local NGO set up by Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem, which ended Sunday night, was a resounding success. It brought local and international attention to a neglected part of the birthplace of Jesus.

Held in the old city of Bethlehem with activities throughout the city’s Star Street, the festival has done more to revive a forgotten and historic part of the city than all actions of politicians and local leaders combined.

Star Street was recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site in 2012. Long ignored and neglected, Star Street received a fresh look as volunteers hit the streets cleaning, painting and reviving the oldest route to the Church of the Nativity. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Contrary to what many believe, the possibility of US intervention in the Syrian crisis will undoubtedly increase US pressure on Israel to solve the Palestinian conflict.

The decision by the Barack Obama administration on June 13 to inform Congress of its assessment that chemical weapons have been used multiple times by the Syrian regime is the clearest indication yet that Washington will become more deeply involved in the conflict. In a situation so reminiscent of the US intervention in Iraq, American officials most certainly will be calculating the political costs of such a decision.

Obama’s belated decision to arm the rebels and encourage other parties to possibly share in creating a no-fly zone in Syria will be welcomed by the rebels and Sunni Arab leaders. A considerable portion of the Arab population, however, is likely to be angered by Americans once again intervening in the affairs of a sovereign Arab country. As with Iraq, the single most-repeated phrase will be “double standard.” Various Arab thinkers and commentators as well as demonstrators will ask this simple question: Why intervene in a civil war while refraining from taking a serious position in the 46-year-old military occupation by a US ally? Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Amona Abed Rabo remembers the TV interview with Israeli President Shimon Peres quite well. Demonstrating with a photo of her son Issa Abed Rabo when US President Barack Obama visited Bethlehem, she repeated every question and answer of a TV interview with President Peres. She slows down and raises her voice when she gets to the section of the interview in which the architect of the Oslo Accords confirms his commitment to the release of Palestinians imprisoned before the Oslo Accords.

Some 107 Palestinian prisoners (some accounts say 103) arrested before September 1993 are still held in Israeli jails. The prisoners, who belong to the PLO’s Fatah movement, feel betrayed by Israel and their own leaders. Having been sent on military missions by their PLO leaders, these men are rotting in jail while the leaders who gave the orders for them have been free since 1993. Promises made by the Israelis, including former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, have not been fulfilled.

This week it was revealed that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected an Israeli offer to have 50 of the prisoners released. Abbas insists that all prisoners must be released as part of a US-brokered agreement to restart face-to-face peace talks. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was due to visit the region for an unprecedented fifth visit, has postponed his trip. Some believe that the disagreement over the release of the Palestinian prisoners might have something to do with Kerry’s decision to delay a visit that was aimed at announcing a small breakthrough. Continue Reading »