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Daoud Kuttab
  Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist. He was born in Jerusalem in 1955. He is the director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah, and he is the founder and general director of AmmanNet, the Arab world's first internet radio station.He has been arrested by both Israelis and Palestinians and has won numerous international awards including the IPI freedom hero award, the Pen USA West Freedom of writing award, and the Leipzeg Media Institute award. His columns appear regularly in Arab and international newspapers. |
With Obama election, there's hope for the Mideast
By Daoud Kuttab
A curious thing has happened as Americans were choosing their first black president. Democracy suddenly ceased to be a bad word for many genuine democrats in the Middle East.
In the aftermaths of the war on Iraq and as part of President Bush's attempts to win the hearts and minds of Arabs, a public democracy campaign was launched aimed at injecting Arabs with the democracy virus. Millions of dollars and years later, the effort has been pronounced as a failure. Democracy salespeople had a problem selling their goods while the Bush administration was occupying the Arab country of Iraq, supporting the continued occupation and illegal settlements of the West Bank while simultaneously placing a worldwide financial siege on a truly elected Palestinian government.
Arabs easily dismissed the democracy surge by simply pointing to what was being done by Americans, and in the name of Americans, in the region. Scenes and images from the Abu Ghraib prison to Guantanamo poured cold water on these efforts to convince Arabs of democracy, U.S. style. The arguments passed around in coffee shops and sitting rooms throughout the Arab world was that American democracy is in reality a facade. That while elections do take place on the surface, a behind-the-scenes process led by a handful of people really decides who rules America.
This has continued to be the lead anti-democracy argument ... until this week.
Leadership needed to prevent chaos, internal fighting
 by Daoud Kuttab
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. |
Solution for Hamas - focusing on local issues
The results of the elections and the furor that accompanied it seem to have resulted in the pro-Hamas candidates to forget that they had technically run on a non-Hamas list. Instead of distancing themselves in word and deed from Hamas, the jubilant winners of the elections fell in the trap and began talking as Hamas victors, not as the victors on the list of reform and change, which they had actually run and won on.
by Daoud Kuttab
Hamas' predicament - partly political naivete?
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.
Yousef predicted that winning the elections would be disastrous to Hamas. I remembered him as I was reflecting on the predicament Hamas finds itself these days.
by Daoud Kuttab
Negotiation alternatives
Although it appears that the political stalemate continues on the Palestinian-Israeli front, a possible breakthrough seems closer than in the past. Various pieces of the puzzle appear to be falling into place following the Palestinian and Israeli elections.
by Daoud Kuttab
'A next to impossible job'
For the first time in Palestinian history, Jerusalem has a minister: Khaled Abu Arafeh, Abu Arafeh, a father of five, is described as open minded and very tolerant by people who know him well. He told this writer that he plans to pay close attention to the various issues and problems raised by the people of Jerusalem. "We will support every effort that will restore the rights of our people."
by Daoud Kuttab
Middle East democracy should focus on variations of Islamic parties
I am an enthusiastic supporter of President George Bush's (anybody else's, for that matter) mission to spread democracy. I would argue, as Bush has done, that this is the most natural yearning of all peoples. My problem is that the US and its lead regional ally seem to stop short of their zeal for democracy once the results don't please them.
by Daoud Kuttab
