Palestinians: The Fatah Mess

by Khaled Abu Toameh • June 7, 2016 at 5:00 am

After many years of being gagged, Fatah's young guard is finding its voice. But while members of this faction wish to see a "changing of the guards at the Palestinian palace," this does not mean that they have changed their attitude towards Israel.
Fatah's young guard is neither interested in, nor authorized to, give up the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees -- or even take the basic step of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. In short, the actors might change, but the same show will go on.
The international community, meanwhile, is busy burying its head in the sand of Abbas's very messy backyard. The participants at the Middle East peace conference held in Paris last week may have missed the latest revolt against the PA president. Had they been paying attention, instead of calling for a two-state solution, they might have demanded that Abbas and his Fatah faction get their acts together, and include Israel in the show. Perhaps they also would have mentioned that this ought to happen before Hamas takes over the West Bank and creates another Islamist regime there, too.

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.

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is once again facing insurrection -- this time from the young guard in his ruling Fatah faction.

Even autocracy has its limits, and after many years of being gagged, Fatah's young guard is finding its voice.

This renewed power struggle between the young and the old guard is probably a positive sign. It seems to signal the Palestinians wish to see new faces in power. However, just because members of this faction wish to see a "changing of the guards at the Palestinian palace" does not mean that they have changed their attitude towards Israel.

This young guard, in fact, is neither interested in, nor authorized to, give up the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees -- or even take the basic step of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.

In short, the actors might change, but the same show will go on.

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Turkish Professor Suspended over Tweet

by Robert Jones • June 7, 2016 at 4:30 am

Professor Bardakcioglu is under a disciplinary investigation launched by the university's rector for his tweet, in which he criticized the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
After losing his job and being condemned and ostracized by his community, Bardakcioglu defined his deleted tweet as "an ugly and wrong expression that was not my own view." The professor, sadly, apologized for telling the truth.
Publicly debating historical events recognized by most scholars in free societies is, in Turkey, a criminal offense. You can lose your job, your freedom or even your life.
Turkish state officials constantly claim there is nothing in Turkey's history that they should be ashamed of, so they continue persecuting and jailing journalists or professors who express differing ideas, and slaughtering non-Muslims and non-Turks.

In this photo from September 1955, a government-instigated mob of Muslim Turks in Istanbul is destroying stores owned by Greek Christians.

Erbay Bardakcioglu, a professor at Adnan Menderes University (AMU) in Aydin Province in western Turkey, was suspended after posting a tweet, in which he criticized the conquest of Constantinople, present-day Istanbul, in 1453.

Professor Bardakcioglu's tweet, on May 29, read, "Today is the anniversary of the invasion of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, a magnificent civilization, by a barbaric and fanatic tribe."

After the tweet caused outrage on social media, Bardakcioglu deleted it.

The professor is now under a disciplinary investigation launched by the university's rector for his tweet. The university's rector, Cavit Bircan, on his Twitter account, also condemned the professor and declared that he was laid off from his job.

Describing Bardakcioglu's tweet as "unacceptable," Bircan wrote:

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