I Criticized Terror group Hamas and My Life in 'Islamist' Turkey Became a Nightmare.

I Criticized Terror group Hamas and My Life in 'Islamist' Turkey Became a Nightmare. (MEForum).by Burak Bekdil

My greatest sin was to argue: "The fact that there are no Israeli casualties does not mean Hamas does not want to kill; it just means Hamas, for the moment, cannot kill."

It was a beautiful, sunny day in December 2006 when I met Shimon Peres at his Tel Aviv office. At one point in our conversation, he began to talk about how things were beginning to go wrong in Turkey. He said: "Do not forget ... when holiness begins, reason ends." I knew he was right.

In 2006, the then Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was widely viewed as a Muslim democrat, a pro-EU reformist, a pro-business liberal; or, at worst, a postmodern Islamist — not just an Islamist.

In reality, I argued in my Hurriyet column, he was just another Islamist zig-zagging between his ideological and pragmatic selves. He was successfully deceiving much of the Western world.

Less than a decade later, having consolidated his power using a blend of nationalist, Sunni-Islamist rhetoric, populist sound bites and nods to Ottoman grandeur, he has been labelled "arguably the most virulent anti-Israel leader in the world." Read my story here.

Palestinian 'pres' Abbas held meeting with Hamas leadership in MB den Qatar

Palestinian 'pres' Abbas held meeting with Hamas leadership in MB den Qatar. (alyaexpress). [GoogleTranslated).

The three men held a business lunch together under the auspices of the Qatari Minister of étrangères.La Affairs meeting took place despite repeated denials by senior Fatah officials. Officials also said that There would be no renewal of the Hamas-Fatah during the reconciliation talks.

The Office of the President of the Palestinian Authority has sent an announcement very carefully made about the meeting. The statement said that Abbas spoke at a meeting in which both Mashaal and Haniyeh were present, and the meeting was held as part of lunch & business organized by the Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs. The message went on to say that the meeting was conducted to the displeasure of Mahmoud Abbas, and hinted that the meeting took place due to pressure on him by the Qatari government.

Abbas did not say anything revolutionary about the meeting, but said that the process of reconciliation between the two groups, and the need to Eliminate divisions between Gaza and the West Bank.

The two sides agreed that we must revive reconciliation talks, and that negotiations should be mediated by Qatar. (read with MB Member Turkey).

Despite the rhetoric, the chance that there will be a breakthrough in reconciliation talks is slim, mainly because Abbas has little or no interest in reconciliation.

The tensions between the two political parties are at a peak, especially after that Abbas canceled the municipal elections scheduled to take place in Judea and Samaria. Hamas should participate in elections for the first time in a decade, and was expected to win almost all local elections.

Fatah is also furious that Hamas has taken him to reject the lists of Fatah officials, candidates in the Gaza Strip.

Video - Hamas TV Host Sheikh Wael Al-Zarad: Israel, the Jews Live on Blood and the Sight of Body Parts

Speaking on the Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV on September 15, Palestinian cleric Wael Al-Zarad said that it was their destiny to "chop off the hand of the occupation," describing it as a "small and vile gang" of Jews, who "came to our country like a cancer" and who "spread corruption throughout the land." Al-Zarad continued: "The entire world knows no peace from the filth of these people who live on blood… and the sight of body parts… to sell weapons worldwide, and to incite civil strife in different countries." (Memri).

Sheikh Wael Al-Zarad: "Day in and day out, the world in general and our nation in particular is further exposed to the face of this small and ugly gang – the face of those Jews. Every day, their pitch-black, evil, and oppressive [nature] becomes more evident. They are the ones who violate women's honor and spill blood. They are the ones who stole and plundered our resources. They occupied the land of Islam and the Muslims almost 70 years ago, and it remains occupied to this day. They are the ones who gathered from all over the world, after having been dispersed, as Allah said: 'We divided them into nations throughout the earth.'

"After having been dispersed worldwide, they came in droves from all over to our land, the land of the Arabs and the Muslims, and occupied it at a moment of negligence on the part of the Arabs and the Muslims. Since time immemorial, the Muslims have been preoccupied with their daily lives, and we Palestinians have been left to confront these people, to confront this spreading evil. We have been left to face them bare-chested, after having been stripped of all our weapons, after having been disarmed of the weapons of bravery and resistance.

"After the Caliphate fell, and the lands of the Levant fell into the hands of the British, after everyone – from near and afar – conspired against Palestine, the Jews were allowed, after receiving the promise [of the Balfour Declaration], to build a state for themselves on our land. Since then, the Jews have continued to grab not only our land, but lands of the Arabs and the Muslims. They bring calamities and disasters upon all countries. They are the ones who sow strife all over, and who cause problems in the lands of the Arabs and the Muslims. They are the ones who spread corruption throughout the land."

[...]

"It is our destiny to chop off the hand of the occupation – not only in Palestine, but in all the Arab and Islamic lands. These occupiers, who came to our country, are like a cancer. They spread evil and malignant fingers in all countries. If Allah so wills it, we shall fight them upon our land, in the name of the nation. Their hands will be chopped off in the Arab countries. By God, the entire world knows no peace from the filth of these people who live only on blood, from the filth of those who live only for the sight of body parts, from the filth of those who live only to incite rebellion and to sow strife, who live only to sell weapons worldwide and to incite civil strife in different countries, who live only to plunder the resources of the nations, and to steal the property of countries and of people. Their day will come, and indeed, it is drawing close, Allah willing."

Gaza journalist won't be criticizing Terrorist organization Hamas any more after torture.

Gaza journalist won't be criticizing Terrorist organization Hamas any more after torture. (Yahoo).

Palestinian journalist Ayman al-Aloul frequently writes about the hardships of life in the Gaza Strip, and is one of the few voices willing to publicly criticize the rule of the Islamic Hamas movement.

But after nine days in jail, al-Aloul says he won't be writing about politics anymore. He said a painful experience that included beatings and being forced to sit uncomfortably in a tiny chair has made him a "new man" and that he will now focus on less controversial topics like sports, food, literature and fashion.

"I've decided not to talk about the general situation anymore," al-Aloul said in an interview at his home Tuesday, a day after he was released. "The experience I went through was very difficult."

Al-Aloul's experience is part of a crackdown by Hamas at a time when the continuing miseries of life in Gaza appear to be driving its population toward more open dissent. Critics have grown bolder on social media sites, and attempts by Hamas to impose new taxes have triggered rare public protests.

He also published pictures of people looking for leftover food in garbage containers, quoted business owners angry over increased taxes and blamed Gaza authorities for prolonged power blackouts.

On Jan. 3, Hamas forces arrested him and another outspoken critic, Ramzi Herzallah, in their homes in Gaza City.

During his detention, al-Aloul said he was repeatedly slapped on the face by his interrogators and twice sent to a room known euphemistically as "the bus." He described it as a room equipped with children's chairs, where detainees are blindfolded and forced to sit for an entire day.

"They think that my posts on Facebook harm the Gaza government," he said. "They considered criticizing the government to be criticism of 'the resistance' and they accused me of harming the revolutionary unity," al-Aloul said. Terrorist organization Hamas' Interior Ministry declined comment.Read the full story here.

#Turkey PM @Ahmet_Davutoglu dines with #Hamas leader Khaled Mashal for 2.5 hours in Çankaya office in Ankara. Dec.20 pic.twitter.com/PErIBoRNti

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) December 23, 2015