Who Is Blocking Palestinian Elections?

by Khaled Abu Toameh • June 4, 2015 at 5:00 am

Fatah is afraid that Hamas's chances of winning the elections, especially in the West Bank, are very high. Hamas is not willing to relinquish control over the Gaza Strip, certainly not to Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, who were expelled from there in 2007.
Each party cares only about its own interests, while at the same time lying to the world that it is all Israel's fault. Hamas continues to invest enormous resources in digging new tunnels, in preparation for a new war with Israel.
All this is being done with the help of anti-Israel governments around the world, and groups such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, whose only goal is to delegitimize Israel and demonize Jews rather than to help the Palestinians.

One man, one vote, one time? Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (left) and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas (also president of the Palestinian Authority) are pictured voting in the last election for the Palestinian Legislative Council, which took place in 2006.

One year after Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas announced the establishment of the Palestinian Fatah-Hamas "national consensus" government, the two rival parties remain as far apart as ever.

The "national consensus" government, headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, was formed after a series of "understandings" between Fatah and Hamas on the basis of previous "reconciliation" agreements between the two sides.

A year later, it has become obvious that the "national consensus" government has failed to achieve its main objectives: the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip; ending the conflict between Hamas and Fatah, and preparing for new presidential and parliamentary elections.

Fatah and Hamas can only blame each other for the failure of the latest attempt to end their dispute and do something good for their people. There is no way this time that they could lay the blame on Israel.

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Turkey's Flotilla: What Was It Really About?

by Burak Bekdil • June 4, 2015 at 4:00 am

All that 77 million Turks could collect to donate to Gaza stood at $32 million, or about 40 cents per person.
"This is a clear picture of the AK Party's true colors... How could you not honor your promise to Gaza?" — Mehmet Gunal, opposition member of parliament.
Underneath its "Pro-Palestinian" mindset, Turkish solidarity with the Palestinians is less related to the Palestinian cause and more to the Islamists' devotion to the dream of conquest.

Tens of thousands of Turkish Islamists rallied on May 31, 2015, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident. (Image source: Timeturk video screenshot)

Five years ago this week, on May 31, 2010, a Turkish flotilla with hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists aboard sailed toward the Gaza Strip in order to break Israel's naval blockade. Israel had established the blockade to prevent weapons from being shipped to the Hamas terrorist organization, which rules Gaza and is openly committed to Israel's destruction.

Before reaching the Gazan shore, however, the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara, was boarded by Israeli commandos, and 10 activists were killed in what would become the worst ever diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel. Later, a UN-sponsored probe into the Mavi Marmara incident would accuse Israeli soldiers of excessive use of force, but declare Israel's blockade as legal.

With the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish government wanted to provoke Israel and cause an "incident." Then the whole world learned "who benefitted."

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