Clinton Announces Million-Dollar Scholarship Program for Palestinian Students

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
NEWS BLOG: March 9, 2009

Ramallah, West Bank — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has announced a new million-dollar scholarship program to help Palestinian students enroll at Palestinian and American universities.

Mrs. Clinton announced the Middle East Partnership Initiative during a visit to this Palestinian town last week. The four-year program will support about 10 scholarships each year for disadvantaged students to attend four-year courses at Palestinian universities. The program will also offer 25 “opportunity grants” to enable promising but disadvantaged young Palestinians to apply to American-accredited institutions in the United States or the Middle East, a State Department official told The Chronicle.

Once funds are approved by Congress, Mrs. Clinton hopes to begin the program in the 2010-11 academic year. The money is in addition to $900-million in aid to the Palestinian Authority announced by the secretary last week at the donors’ conference, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.

During her visit to an American-sponsored English-language teaching program in Ramallah, Mrs. Clinton said the opportunity grants would create “a larger pool of capable young men and women from places like the West Bank and Gaza” who can “compete along with students in other countries for the opportunity to further their academic training in America.” The secretary spoke on a youth program aired by Palestinian Authority TV.

Last year several Palestinian students from Gaza who were awarded Fulbright scholarships ran into difficulty entering Israel to complete the application process, and two of them were subsequently denied entry visas to the United States on security grounds.

Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, said efforts were being made to enable Gazans to participate in American-sponsored projects despite the security challenges.

“We’ve had several dozen Gazans participate in our programs over the last few months, both educational and professional,” said Ms. Schweitzer-Bluhm.

“It is difficult,” she said. “It’s a challenge to bring Gazans to participate in these programs, but we go through great lengths to try and facilitate their participation, and we have advance coordination with the Israelis to get them the necessary permits.” —Matthew Kalman

Hillary Clinton and Mahmoud Abbas both tell Iran: Butt out!

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, March 4th 2009

By Matthew Kalman
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - Hillary Clinton teamed up with embattled West Bank Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday in telling Iran to butt out of the region.

In wrapping up her first Mideast trip as secretary of state, Clinton joined with the Palestinian Authority president in denouncing the call of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for all Muslims to join the "resistance" to Israel."We are sending a message to the Iranians and others: Stop interfering in our affairs," said Abbas, who is locked in a power struggle in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

On a brief stop in Ramallah, Clinton charged that the Iranians "are interfering only to deepen the rift between Palestinians." The Iranians were seeking to "intimidate as far as they think their voice can reach," Clinton said.

In Tehran, Khamenei said in a statement that "support and help to Palestinians is a mandatory duty of all Muslims. I now tell all Muslim brothers and sisters to join forces and break the immunity of the Zionist criminals."

The hugs and kisses that marked Clinton's earlier visit to Jerusalem were markedly absent from her more formal meetings with Abbas and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad.In response to a reporter's question, Clinton voiced her only negative note about Israeli policy, branding a decision to evict 1,400 Palestinians in East Jerusalem and destroy 88 homes there as "unhelpful."

Clinton also visited a U.S.-supported school providing English-language instruction for high school students and announced a series of scholarships and exchange programs to bring more Palestinians to U.S. universities.

Abbas' presidency, which officially expired in January, is to be shored up by $600 million in U.S. aid and training for his security forces, whose main objective has been to prevent his regime from being overthrown by Hamas.

In Gaza, Hamas officials dismissed Clinton's repeated declarations of support for Israel as "a slap in the face of those who were expecting changes in America foreign policy."

With Richard Sisk in Washington

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wooing Syria to nix Iran nukes

Kahana/Getty Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who presented her with a bouquet.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, March 4th 2009

BY Matthew Kalman In Jerusalem and David Saltonstall In New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Hillary Clinton made her Jerusalem debut as secretary of state Tuesday - and immediately signaled a new diplomatic push to reopen relations with Syria.

Clinton said two American envoys would soon hit the road to Damascus, marking the first direct, high-level talks between the U.S. and Syria since 2005, when relations broke down over Syria's support of terrorist groups.

"We have no way to predict what the future of our relations with Syria might be," Clinton said. "I think it is a worthwhile effort to go and begin these preliminary conversations."

Officials later said that National Security Council official Dan Shapiro and Acting Assistant Secretary of State Jeff Feltman would head to Syria to get the diplomatic ball rolling.

Syria has long harbored Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas, which Clinton sharply criticized for endangering the lives of innocent Israelis and Palestinians and undermining the well-being of the people of Gaza.

But Syria is also viewed as a potential ally against Iran's nuclear ambitions - a top diplomatic priority for the Obama administration.

"Iran's pursuit of the nuclear weapon is deeply troubling to not only the U.S. but many people throughout the world," Clinton later told ABC News.

Throughout her day, Clinton unequivocally expressed the administration's plans to pursue peace in the Middle East - a peace, she suggested, that hinged on the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

"The inevitability of working towards a two-state solution seems inescapable," Clinton told reporters in Jerusalem.

That could put the White House at odds with incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposed the creation of a Palestinian state in his recent election campaign.

But Netanyahu said after an hour-long sitdown with Clinton that the two had found "common ground" and pledged continued cooperation.

The former First Lady later visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, where she laid a wreath in the memorial hall honoring the memory of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis.

"My visit," Clinton said, "was a powerful reminder of why we are working so hard to advance the security of the State of Israel."

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Without peace, Gaza aid is useless, admits Blair

DAILY MAIL
March 2, 2009

TONY Blair yesterday made his first visit to the Gaza Strip since he was appointed an international envoy to the Middle East.

The former Prime Minister warned that aid to the devastated Palestinian territory would be pointless without a renewed drive for peace.

Mr Blair did not meet officials from Hamas, the region’s ruling party, during his lightning stopover, but the visit was coordinated with Hamas security, his aides said.

He toured the Israeli town of Sderot, the target of more than 5,000 Hamas rocket attacks in recent years.

Mr Blair said: ‘ I wanted to come to hear for myself firsthand from people in Gaza, whose lives have been so badly impacted by the recent conflict.

‘ These are the people who need to be the focus of all our efforts for peace and progress from now on.’

Mr Blair is today heading for a conference in Egypt, where it is expected that international donors will pledge millions of pounds to rebuild Gaza.

His trip came only hours before Hillary Clinton arrived in the region for her first visit as U. S. Secretary of State. International Development Minister Douglas Alexander is also currently in Gaza City, where he pledged £ 30million in UK aid.

In Jerusalem, outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert threatened Hamas with a ‘ painful, sharp, strong and uncompromising response’ after 11 rockets were fired across the border.

One scored a direct hit on an empty school.

Israel turns right to Netanyahu

DAILY MAIL
21 Feb 2009

RIGHT-WINGER Benjamin Netanyahu is to form the next Israeli government and become Prime Minister, it emerged yesterday.

Even though his Likud Party lost last week’s general election by one seat to the centrist Kadima Party, President Shimon Peres has decided that Netanyahu has a better chance of forming a coalition than Kadima leader Tzipi Livni.

In a move that will put Israel on a collision course with the Obama administration, Peres confirmed that he had asked the Likud leader to build a coalition.

Netanyahu, who opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, now has six weeks to form a government amid strong pressure from the Israeli public for one of national unity.

Livni offered to rotate the premiership with Netanyahu but he refused.

Netanyahu acknowledged ‘ the need for unity’ yesterday, adding: ‘ Not for decades have we stood before such a mass of such enormous and severe challenges at one time.’

Bibi poised to be chief with boost from right

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, February 20th 2009

BY Matthew Kalman
DAILY NEWS WRITER

JERUSALEM - Hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu was poised to return as Israel's prime minister after a maverick right-winger endorsed him Thursday in the wake of the country's indecisive elections.

Israel Is Our Home, the party headed by Avigdor Lieberman, a former nightclub bouncer from Moldova, won 15 of 120 Knesset parliament seats in last week's election, catapulting him into third place. With Netanyahu and centrist candidate Tzipi Livni in a dead heat, Lieberman's support for Netanyahu would tip the balance of power to Netanyahu.

Lieberman's rise has aroused concern in the U.S., where the Obama administration is trying to kick-start the peace process.

Livni's centrist Kadima Party won with 28 seats while Netanyahu came in second with 27. Livni offered a rotating premiership with Netanyahu in a broad unity coalition, but Netanyahu demanded leadership.

Both need Lieberman's support to form a coalition with a working majority. Lieberman's support for Netanyahu came with strings attached.

"We recommend Benjamin Netanyahu only in the framework of a broad government," Lieberman said.

Livni signaled that she would not join a coalition government, but President Shimon Peres summoned Netanyahu and Livni to his official residence today to urge them to set aside differences and work together.

Market Meltdown and Madoff Scandal Cost Israeli Higher Education Some $250-Million

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
DAILY NEWS BLOG: February 16, 2009

Jerusalem — Israeli universities have lost annual income of at least $250-million — more than 10 percent of their total yearly operating budgets — because of the effect of the world economic crisis and, in particular, the investment scandal allegedly perpetrated by Bernard L. Madoff.

The Israel Council for Higher Education, the government-appointed body that oversees Israeli colleges and their budgets, has appointed a special committee headed by a former Bank of Israel governor, Moshe Mandelbaum, to assess the extent of the crisis and recommend steps to stem the losses.

Yuval Lidor, a spokesman for the Council for Higher Education, told The Chronicle that an initial assessment by Mr. Mandelbaum and his colleagues suggests that Israeli universities have lost at least $250-million from budgets that in 2007 totaled $2-billion. Mr. Lidor said that in 2007 foreign donors gave at least $175-million, of which some 70 percent was now feared lost.

“Currently, the state finances some 65 percent of the universities’ budgets, and tuition covers another 18 percent. The remainder comes from donations,” the Israeli daily Haaretz reported today.

Israeli universities’ endowment portfolios have been hit by the worldwide slump in the capital markets, reducing investment income. Funds from wealthy foreign donors also struggling with the economic downturn have dwindled to a trickle.

The Madoff scandal hit Israeli universities particularly hard because many of Mr. Madoff’s clients were Jewish and many of them regularly donated large amounts to Israeli education. Some Israeli institutions and their American fund-raising arms also invested directly with Mr. Madoff.

Hadassah, the American Women’s Zionist Organization, which supports the Hadassah-Hebrew University Hospital in Jerusalem, lost $90-million in Madoff investments. The American Technion Society, which raises funds for the Haifa Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, lost $25-million.

Mr. Lidor said the area hardest hit was university research and development, much of which is financed with foreign donations. The Chais Family Foundation, a California-based charity that gave away more than $12-million every year and was believed to be the single largest donor to Israeli universities’ R&D, was forced to close in December, after it emerged that its entire investment portfolio had been handled by Mr. Madoff and had simply disappeared. The pattern echoes events in the United States.

“No university will collapse,” said Mr. Lidor, “but we are really afraid that all R&D will be frozen.” —Matthew Kalman

Tzipi Livni's party wins Israel's cliffhanger election by one seat but faces battle to form coalition government

DAILY MAIL
February 13th, 2009

By Matthew Kalman

Israel was in political deadlock last night after the final votes counted from Tuesday's general election failed to change the preliminary results.

Officials confirmed that Tzipi Livni's centreist Kadima had finished as the largest party with 28 seats in parliament, but put Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud in pole position to become prime minister, even though he won only 27 seats.

Despite her being leader of the party which took most seats, Livni faces an uphill battle to form a coalition government under Israel's proportional representation system in which she must cobble together at least 61 votes in Israel's 120-seat Knesset parliament. At the moment, Livni's centre-left-Arab bloc has only 55 seats, while Netanyahu believes he has the support of at least 65 right-religious party seats.

Livni is hoping that Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the third-placed Israel Is Our Home Party, will choose her over Netanyahu.

Lieberman, a former Russian nightclub bouncer and one-time Netanyahu aide, was confirmed with 15 seats and effectively holds the balance of power.

Lieberman is committed to introducing civil marriage and divorce – a policy that Netanyahu's religious allies reject outright. He could yet upset Netanyahu's calculations and throw his lot in with Livni.

All 12 party leaders who won Knesset seats will be consulted by President Shimon Peres beginning next Wednesday, when the results are officially published. The president will take soundings and then ask whoever he thinks most likely to be able to form a government to do so.

Lieberman said yesterday he had decided who to recommend as prime minister to Peres, but would not reveal his choice.

Netanyahu, who grabbed the initiative with a tub-thumping victory speech only three hours after the polls closed on Tuesday, continued to pile the pressure on Livni to join a unity government under his leadership. He offered her two of the three top spots in a coalition, which means she would stay on in the key post of foreign minister.

'I plan to create a wide coalition and I will tell the other parties, "if you're worried about national interest, lay aside your political interests and join a government under my leadership",' he told the Haaretz newspaper.

Israeli commentators said Netanyahu hoped that Livni would provide an acceptable international façade for what would effectively be a right-wing government implacably opposed to creating a Palestinian state and unable to find common voice with the new peace-seeking Obama administration in Washington.

But a senior Kadima minister said Livni might prefer to stay out of government than become Netanyahu's junior partner or fig leaf.

'We will join a Netanyahu government only if it is not an extreme right-wing government,' said Kadima's Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit. 'We are not afraid to sit in the opposition.'

The party positions remained unchanged after tallying the last few thousand votes of soldiers, the disabled, prisoners, diplomats and people in hospital. They voted at 2,361 special ballot boxes in double-sealed envelopes to prevent tampering.

Observers had expected the soldiers' votes to gain another seat for Netanyahu and his allies, but many soldiers spoiled their ballot papers by writing in the name of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped in 2006 by Hamas.

Close election has Israel in a political stall

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Thursday, February 12th, 2009

Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Jerusalem - Israel appears headed for another period of political uncertainty bordering on paralysis after a close-fought general election failed to produce a clear winner.

With only a few thousands soldiers' and diplomats' absentee ballots left to be counted today, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's center-right Kadima Party won the most seats in parliament, but former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud appeared to have the best chance of forming a governing coalition.

"Tzipi Livni has a very weak, if not negligible chance to form a government under her leadership," said Avi Diskin, professor of political science at the Hebrew University. "The chances are that a government will be formed led by the Likud, and Kadima may join it. The sooner Tzipi Livni makes that decision, the greater the returns for her and for Kadima."

But both Livni and Netanyahu have claimed victory, beginning talks with possible coalition partners.

"The people chose me in droves," Livni said Tuesday. "I feel a great responsibility to translate the power that has been given to me into action, to advance the country and to unify the people."

"The Israeli people have spoken sharp and clear. The nationalist camp, headed by Likud has won a clear majority," said Netanyahu. "With God's help, I will stand at the head of the next government."
It could take weeks

Once the official results are published on Wednesday, President Shimon Peres will begin consultations with party leaders before choosing either Livni or Netanyahu to form a government. Peres has indicated that he will announce his selection by Feb. 20. According to Israeli law, the president selects as prime minister the parliamentary member with the best chance of forming a viable coalition government. His choice then has up to six weeks to win a parliamentary vote of confidence.

With all civilian votes counted, Kadima won 28 parliamentary seats, followed by Likud with 27 and the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is Our Home) with 15. In fourth place, the liberal Labor Party - for decades Israel's ruling party - recorded its worst ever result with just 13 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, Israel's parliament. Labor's traditional left-wing partner, Meretz, eked out just three seats.

On the other hand, right-wing and religious parties did well, winning 65 seats in contrast to 55 seats for Kadima, and center-left and Arab parties. The absentee ballots yet to be counted are expected to strengthen the rightist parties by one or two seats.

The uncertain result of Tuesday's election has revived calls for an overhaul of Israel's proportional representation system, which typically fails to produce stable governments. David Horovitz, editor of the Jerusalem Post, has called it "unworkable" and in need of "urgent electoral reform."

Livni, 50, who hopes to become Israel's first female prime minister since Golda Meir (1969-1974), called on Netanyahu to join a unity government under her leadership and hurried to meet with Avigdor Lieberman, the tough-talking leader of Yisrael Beiteinu who has emerged as a kingmaker and is expected to support Netanyahu.
'A clear majority'

"We want a nationalist government. We want a right-wing government," Lieberman told delighted supporters Wednesday. "The nationalist camp has won a clear majority. The rightist bloc has won a clear majority. I am pleased that we hold the key. And this key also brings with it a responsibility. And this decision will not be at all easy," he said, referring to deep divisions over religious policy with the ultraorthodox Shas party, which supports Netanyahu.

Lieberman has been accused of racism over his controversial proposals to redraw Israel's borders to push out heavily Arab areas and mandate Israel's 1.1 million Arab residents to swear loyalty to the state and perform national service or lose their right to vote and hold office. But his largely Russian constituency appears to be most concerned about ending the religious monopoly on marriage and divorce - Israel does not recognize civil marriage or divorce - a policy that Livni endorses but would be an anathema to Netanyahu and his Shas supporters.

Netanyahu's former chief of staff, Lieberman has whittled way at Likud's share of the conservative vote and now threatens to replace his ex-boss as undisputed leader of the right if he throws in with Livni's Kadima Party.
'The fact is, we won'

Knesset member Meir Shetreet, who left the Likud to help form Kadima three years ago, said his party would not join a Netanyahu-led government that would refuse to advance the peace process. Netanyahu is opposed to the creation of an independent Palestinian state, and wants to maintain Israeli control over the Jordan Valley and expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

"The fact is, we won. The last thing the country needs is a right-wing government that will bring about a freeze in the entire peace process and social, economic and diplomatic deterioration," said Shetreet.

Meanwhile, Palestinian reaction has been one of alarm at Israel's rightward shift.

In Gaza, Hamas officials accused Israel of electing "a troika of terrorists."

In the West Bank, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said "the Israeli public has voted for paralysis. I don't see how any coalition established after these elections will be able to fulfill the necessary conditions for peace."

Until a new government is in place, however, Ehud Olmert remains prime minister.

Before he leaves office, Olmert is expected to push through an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire deal with Hamas and broker a controversial exchange of 400 Hamas prisoners in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured in 2006.

Israel deadlocked in election drama

DAILY MAIL
12 Feb 2009

From Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem

ISRAEL was politically gridlocked yesterday after its general election left the two prospective leaders both claiming victory

With only a few thousand soldiers’ and diplomats’ absentee ballots left to be counted, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s centrist Kadima Party had the most seats in the Knesset parliament.

But right-wing former premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud still had the best chance of forming a stable coalition.

Both Livni and Netanyahu claimed victory and began talks with possible coalition partners.

‘ The Obama administration is going to inherit the worst of both worlds,’ said former U. S. mediator Aaron David Miller. ‘ It has already inherited a dysfunctional Palestinian house, made worse by Gaza, and now what it is inheriting is a dysfunctional Israeli house.’

President Shimon Peres will begin consultations with party leaders next week then give either Livni or Netanyahu a month to form a government.

With all the civilian votes counted, it looks as though Kadima has won 28 seats, Likud 27 and the ultra rightwing Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is Our Home) 15.

Labour, for decades Israel’s ruling party, collapsed to its worst ever result with just 13 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

The absentee ballots are expected to strengthen the right-wing and religious parties and leave them with a total of 65 seats, compared to 55 for centre-left and Arab parties.

Livni called on Netanyahu to join a unity government under her leadership. She hurried to meet Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of Yisrael Beitenu who has emerged as the kingmaker. He told his supporters: ‘ I am pleased we hold the key. And this key also brings with it a responsibility.

‘And this decision will not be at all easy,’ he said, referring to deep divisions over religious policy with the ultra-orthodox Shas Party, who are also supporting Netanyahu. Meanwhile, Ehud Olmert remains prime minister. He is expected to push through an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Hamas and an exchange of 400 Hamas prisoners for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Israel ready to bring back Benjamin Netanyahu in general election

DAILY MAIL
9th February 2009

By Matthew Kalman

Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to return to power in Israel, a decade after his last controversial term.

Voters are expected to lurch to the Right in tomorrow's general election.

Tough-talking Mr Netanyahu, leader of the Right-wing Likud Party, is firmly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Weekend polls showed the Likud leading with about 26 seats in the 120-seat Knesset parliament and a wafer-thin advantage over foreign minister Tzipi Livni of the ruling Kadima Party.

Whoever wins in Israel's system of proportional representation must form a coalition with other parties, leaving Mr Netanyahu, 59, with the choice of a narrow Right-wing government or a broad national unity government with Kadima and Labour.

Mr Netanyahu was elected in 1996 as Israel's youngest prime minister after a wave of Hamas suicide bombings ended the election hopes of Shimon Peres, now Israel's ceremonial president.

The former commando is credited with playing a key role in opening up Israel's economy to the free market, boosting a period of strong economic growth.

But his administration was overshadowed by disputes - with the Palestinians, with the Americans, with Europe and finally with his own Right-wing coalition partners, who brought about his downfall in 1999.

Mr Netanyahu says he has 'learned from my mistakes' and has promised to do better this time round.

The only party showing a significant rise in the polls apart from Likud is Yisrael Beitenu - Israel is Our Home - led by Avigdor Lieberman, a pugnacious Russian-born former aide to Netanyahu who has been under police investigation for corruption for most of the past ten years.

The run-up to the general election has been dominated by Israel's war in Gaza, which has claimed 1,300 lives.

Two more Hamas rockets landed in Israel on Sunday despite a supposed ceasefire between Hamas and the Israelis. But it emerged last night that Israel and Hamas are on the verge of agreeing a new ceasefire. Egypt has been mediating between opposing sides, according to Egypt's foreign ministry.

http://matthewkalman.blogspot.com/

Bard College and Al-Quds University to Open Joint College

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
February 8, 2009

JERUSALEM — Bard College in New York and Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem will open a joint college in September 2009, modeled on the college Bard opened in Russia with St. Petersburg University a decade ago.

The Al-Quds Bard Honors College for Liberal Arts and Sciences — as it will be known — will eventually accept 100 new students each year for the four-year course. The first 60 students are expected to enroll this fall and will be awarded joint degrees from Al-Quds and Bard. The self-standing autonomous college is recruiting an entire new faculty and will occupy a building on the Al-Quds campus originally built to house the Palestinian Parliament and Yasser Arafat’s office. Applications for the founding dean of the new college, who is expected to speak both English and Arabic, have been requested by the end of February 2009.

Bard and Al-Quds are also planning a joint master of arts in teaching (MAT) program and a model high school. “The honors college and MAT programs are to be launched in summer 2009 and will be located on the Abu Dis Campus of Al-Quds University. The model school is scheduled to open in fall 2010,” according to a job vacancy for a project coordinator advertised on the Bard College website.

“Al-Quds and Bard College are initiating partnerships with public schools in the West Bank and Jerusalem representing different models of student learning. Teachers in the pioneer schools will be the first cadre of students in the MAT Program and will serve as mentor teachers for future apprentice teachers,” Bard announced in its search for a director of the MAT program.

Plans for the new college were finalized in a joint memorandum signed by Bard College President Leon Botstein and Al-Quds University President Sari Nusseibeh during a visit to Bard by Mr. Nusseibeh and his senior colleagues in August 2008. Half of the $3-million budget for the first two years is being donated by the George Soros Foundation, with the balance coming from Bard fundraising programs. — Matthew Kalman

Israeli elections tightening, polls show

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Saturday, February 7, 2009

Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Jerusalem - The identity of Israel's next prime minister and the future of the Middle East peace process will be decided in a neck-and-neck election Tuesday that most pollsters say is too close to call.

Nearly 30 percent of Israel's estimated 5 million voters remain undecided among the two leading candidates: right-wing former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects the idea of a Palestinian state, and centrist Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who says she is committed to peace talks and withdrawing Jewish settlements from the West Bank.

Until this week, Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud party, who has also pledged to remove "Hamastan" from Gaza and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons by any means necessary, seemed to be heading for a narrow victory and a possible coalition with a band of smaller, hawkish and religious parties or with Livni's ruling center-right Kadima Party and the center-left Labor Party led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

But seven polls published Thursday and Friday projected Likud and Kadima would each win 25 seats in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. The job of prime minister is assigned by the president - mainly a figurehead position - to the Knesset member with the best chance of forming a viable coalition government in light of election results.

During the campaign, doubt over the peace process with the Palestinians has been a major factor. Many Israelis fear the Palestinians are hopelessly divided between Hamas, which controls Gaza, and their political rival Fatah, which controls the West Bank. Moreover, the recent 23-day war in Gaza not only revealed Hamas' huge arsenal of weapons aimed at Israel but also left Hamas still in control - dashing hopes that Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza would prompt Palestinians to create a model for their future state that could live in peace with its neighbor.

"The complexity of the situation after the Gaza war leads most Israeli Jews to favor a grand coalition bringing together Netanyahu, Barak and Livni," said Shlomo Avineri, professor of political science at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Last September, Netanyahu looked like a certain winner after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced he would resign over corruption allegations, and Livni, his replacement as Kadima Party leader, proved unable to form a new coalition.

But five months is a long time in Israeli politics.

Olmert's alleged financial dealings have faded from public debate and been replaced by worries over Gaza and a deepening economic crisis. And Netanyahu's position as the unassailable leader of the Israeli right has been overshadowed by the sudden popularity of the Russian-dominated Yisrael Beiteinu party, or Israel Is Our Home Party, led by the pugnacious Knesset member - Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu's former chief of staff.

Since Russian speakers make up more than 10 percent of the Israeli electorate and lean heavily toward the right, polls suggest his party could replace Labor as Israel's third-largest party.

Lieberman, a former bar bouncer who immigrated to Israel from Moldova in 1978, still speaks Hebrew with a strong Russian accent. His campaign slogan is a direct challenge to Israel's 1.7 million Arab citizens, many of whom identify with the Palestinian cause: "Without loyalty, there is no citizenship."

Lieberman has proposed initiatives demanding every citizen swear loyalty to the state or lose the right to vote or run for office, and pushing areas with heavy concentrations of Arabs outside Israel and under Palestinian jurisdiction in return for annexation of West Bank Jewish settlements.

"Israel is under a dual terrorist attack, from within and from without," Lieberman said this week. "And terrorism from within is always more dangerous than terrorism from without."

Israeli Arab leaders have angrily charged Lieberman with racism - an accusation given weight by comments made by some of his party colleagues who publicly advocate the emigration of Israeli Arabs.

"This is the backlash of some Israeli Jews against what they saw during the Gaza war as the support of many Israeli Arabs for the Hamas side," said Avineri.

Not surprisingly, Netanyahu has redirected his campaign in past weeks at keeping Likud supporters from migrating to Lieberman's party, while projecting an image of fiscal and diplomatic expertise to attract moderates concerned about the nation's economic crisis and maintaining cordial relations with the new Obama administration.

Livni, who says she is confident of victory, has presented herself as the new face of Israeli politics, the first female candidate for prime minister since the legendary Golda Meir and the leader most likely to work closely with President Obama.

"Livni is seeking to demonstrate that a woman can be a tough leader in tough times," said David Makovsky, head of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute.
Israel's electoral system

Since Israel's multiparty system has never produced a majority for a single party, parties that receive the most votes must form coalition governments.

On Tuesday, 30 parties will compete for 120 seats in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. The Israeli electorate votes for a party, rather than for individuals, with a minimum requirement of 2 percent of the vote to take a seat.
Currently, the center-right Kadima Party leads with 29 seats, followed by the center-left Labor Party with 19 and the right-wing Likud party with 12.

In recent years, centrist parties aiming to break the Likud-right, Labor-left grip on power have been one-shot wonders.

But if Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu wins Tuesday's election, he has expressed a preference to form a unity government with Kadima and Labor, which are expected to control more than 70 seats. That would blunt the power of smaller parties that typically make budgetary and policy demands that have torpedoed previous Israeli coalitions, including Netanyahu's first administration in 1999.

A Likud-Kadima-Labor hold on power also could alter the traditional shape of Israeli politics and reduce the power of fringe parties.

- Matthew Kalman

This article appeared on page A - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

http://matthewkalman.blogspot.com/

Colleges in Gaza Reopen but Face More than $20-Million in Repairs

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Friday, February 6, 2009

By MATTHEW KALMAN

Jerusalem

Palestinian colleges in Gaza have resumed examinations and started repairing more than $20-million in damage to buildings, equipment, and infrastructure caused by Israeli bombing raids during the recent invasion of the tiny coastal territory.

The colleges in the Gaza Strip were preparing for first-semester examinations when Israel launched its assault on December 27, following the collapse of a fragile six-month truce. "Operation Cast Lead," as it was called by Israel, ended on January 18 after thousands of aerial bombing raids and a ground invasion in which many educational facilities were damaged.

The Palestinian university hit hardest was the Islamic University of Gaza, which, with 20,000 students, is also the largest higher-education institution in Gaza. The university, which was founded by Hamas and maintains close ties with that group, was specifically targeted in Israeli airstrikes that destroyed two blocks containing 50 science and engineering laboratories and caused widespread destruction throughout the campus. University officials deny Israeli assertions that the laboratories were used as research facilities to develop Hamas weapons.

Six members of the university's teaching staff were killed during the Israeli campaign, including one who was targeted as a leading figure in the Hamas military wing, the Qassam Brigades (The Chronicle, January 7).

The university resumed exams on a limited schedule this week and plans to hold a full exam timetable for the first semester beginning on Saturday. The delayed spring semester will begin on February 28.

Lost Tuition

Kamalain Sha'ath, president of the Islamic University, told The Chronicle that damage to buildings, equipment, and infrastructure was expected to cost $14-million in repairs. He said the university had started a fund-raising campaign to cover that amount and an additional $10-million in lost tuition, which averages $500 per student per semester.

"The students in Gaza are poor, so we allow them to register for the first semester and then try to collect the tuition afterward," said Mr. Sha'ath. "Now we have reached the end of the first semester, we find that 40 percent of tuition hasn't been paid and we cannot ask the students because they don't have it.

"In normal times, we don't allow them to register for the next semester unless the fees owing are paid. This time, we will allow them to register without paying. Also, we expect that even for next semester, only 20 to 30 percent of students will be able to pay the fees."

Another institution, Al-Azhar University, was not specifically targeted by Israel, but repairs to damage there will still cost more than $6-million, the university's president, Jawad Wadi, told The Chronicle.

"We had a farm and our faculty of agriculture in Beit Hanoun, which Israel completely destroyed. The cost of rebuilding the farm and the faculty will be about $5.8-million," said Mr. Wadi. "At the main building in Gaza City, there was extensive damage to doors, windows, aluminum, and computers, which will cost about $450,000 to repair."

The university resumed its laboratory examinations this week and plans to start final exams for the first semester on February 7. Full classes will resume on March 8.

Mr. Wadi said that nearly half of the 12,000 students were unable to pay their tuition on time, leaving the university with a $5.6-million deficit from unpaid fees.

Widespread Damage

Al-Aqsa University, a public institution sponsored by the Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah, suffered about $1.4-million worth of damage to five of its buildings in Khan Yunis and Gaza City. A new building in Khan Yunis intended to serve as a community college was destroyed, as were seven staff apartments. The library on the main campus in Gaza City was badly damaged by Israeli tank fire.

Ali Abu Zuhri, president of the university, told The Chronicle that 14 Al-Aqsa students and one member of the staff had been killed. Exams will resume on Saturday, and the second semester will begin on March 7. Mr. Abu Zuhri said that more than 50 percent of the 14,000 students enrolled for the first semester had been unable to pay tuition.

The university has appealed to the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees to help repair the damage, said Mr. Abu Zuhri. "We are also asking our friends to help students who are unable to pay tuition," he said. "So far, we have received sponsorship for about 100 students from friends in the Gulf, but there are 7,000 more who need assistance."

Damage to buildings and equipment at the University College of Applied Sciences totaled $690,000. Although the campus escaped the worst of the bombardment in comparison to other colleges, most of the windows were shattered, and there were large holes punched in the walls by Israeli shells, which also damaged furniture and equipment. In an interview with The Chronicle, Dean Yahya R. Sarraj described the Israeli assault as "barbaric." He said that exams would resume this weekend and the second semester would begin on February 21.

Al-Quds Open University appears to have suffered collateral damage from Israeli missiles. Nedal Tayeh, a spokesman for the university, said 85 percent of the university's windows were broken, and its administration offices were badly damaged. He said breakage occurred to air-conditioning units, fans, computers, and communications and multimedia equipment, and he estimated the total cost of repairs at about $211,000.

Palestinian University Pulls Back on Longtime Partnerships With Israeli Academics

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Thursday, February 5, 2009

By MATTHEW KALMAN

Jerusalem

The only Palestinian university to maintain ties with Israeli colleges and oppose international calls for a boycott of Israeli academics voted Sunday to freeze new joint projects with Israeli universities in the wake of the war in Gaza.

But faculty members at Al-Quds University took pains this week to emphasize that existing joint projects would continue and that the university was not joining calls in Europe and North America for an academic boycott of Israel.

Al-Quds has traditionally opposed a boycott, arguing in a joint statement issued with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2005 that "it is through cooperation based on mutual respect, rather than boycotts or discrimination, that our common goals can be achieved."

Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al-Quds, has repeatedly rebuffed pressure to end joint projects with Israeli institutions (The Chronicle, March 24, 2006). Faculty members who were present at Sunday's council meeting told The Chronicle that Mr. Nusseibeh had steered his colleagues toward a compromise that sent a strong signal disapproving of Israel's actions but stopped short of severing ties altogether.

In a speech he gave while accepting an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium, on Monday, Mr. Nusseibeh called on "all civil society institutions, in Palestine or abroad, to place a six-month moratorium on all new 'routine' or normal cooperative activities with Israeli institutions or individuals — not, I must add, as a punitive measure, but as a rallying cry for all concerned to pressure the Israeli government into committing itself to a timetable for ending the occupation in return for a full peace treaty with its Palestinian neighbor."

In an interview with The Chronicle on Wednesday, Mr. Nusseibeh said that the move was intended "only in order to raise the alarm to take the matter seriously of the continued occupation and the need to reach a solution."

He said that existing projects with Israeli universities would continue and that individual faculty members at Al-Quds were free to ignore the new policy and seek ties with Israeli institutions. He emphasized that Al-Quds was not joining the international boycott campaign.

"It wasn't really clear what the purpose of the other boycotts were," he said. "Some people are engaging in a boycott just for its own sake, maybe some people because it's done as a form of antagonism, as a form of provocation. Maybe some individuals and institutions want to achieve different results. Different people engage in this kind of thing for different reasons."
Seeking Action, Not Isolation

Mr. Nusseibeh said the university, which has 10,000 students at its campuses in the West Bank towns of Al Bireh, Abu Dis, and East Jerusalem, has about 40 joint projects with Israeli institutions with a combined budget of less than $5-million. They include joint political and educational seminars and "very important research" in medicine, dentistry, and nanotechnology.

The university council, comprising the deans of the university's 12 academic schools and other senior department heads, voted unanimously on Sunday to begin a six-month review period during which no new ventures would be established.

The decision was taken following an earlier council meeting during Israel's military offensive in Gaza where some senior faculty demanded an immediate break with their Israeli partners, and following two lengthy consultations with all Al-Quds faculty members involved in joint projects with Israel.

Faculty members said the council hoped to use its unique position to increase pressure on both sides to move more quickly toward a peaceful solution of the conflict and the establishment of a Palestinian state at peace with its Israeli neighbors.

"Ending academic cooperation is aimed at, first of all, pressuring Israel to abide by a solution that ends the occupation, a solution that has been needed for far too long and that the international community has stopped demanding," the council said in a written statement.

Mohammed Dajani, a professor of American studies, said the six-month moratorium was a reaction to the Israeli assault on Gaza and the current impasse in the peace process.

"We felt it was time to protest the fact that the Israeli universities and faculty did not even take a stand regarding the destruction of the universities in Gaza or show any sympathy at the deaths of more than 1,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children," said Mr. Dajani.

"We felt that the university has not been rewarded by Israel for taking this courageous stand opposing the boycott and working for dialogue, joint ventures, and promoting understanding," he added.

Mohammad Shaheen, dean of the School of Public Health at Al-Quds, said he supported the change in policy even though he has been working with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beersheba, for more than five years on joint psychological and social research dealing with children's trauma.

"Through this dialogue, we experience mutual learning and academic growth," Mr. Shaheen said. "Israel has a more established infrastructure, experience, and institutions dealing with trauma, especially with children. We wanted to learn from them and also share with them how we do our own programs, especially because we don't have such resources."

"As academics we are not politicians, but we have a political and ethical responsibility toward our own Palestinian people who are part of this and live this reality every day," he said. "This new position is not against any specific Israeli organization or colleague. This position is a cry for waking us on both sides and saying that we cannot continue. We have to take a position because we are not working in a vacuum."
Frustration and Sympathy

Musa Bajali, dean of the School of Dentistry, said he also supported the new policy but would continue a two-year-old research partnership with the Hebrew University's Hadassah School of Dental Medicine.

"The Al-Quds policy is based on a democratic approach that allows people who need to continue at a personal level with collaboration, just as it allowed people who were against cooperation the freedom not to be involved until now. I will continue, and I don't think our collaboration will be affected," said Mr. Bajali.

Israeli faculty members expressed sadness at the decision and hope that it would be reversed. Moshe Ma'oz, emeritus professor of Islamic and Middle East studies and a former director of the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said he was proud to have initiated many of the earliest joint projects with Sari Nusseibeh more than 20 years ago.

"It's very unfortunate that it's been done. If the universities and academics will not work together, then who will?" asked Mr. Ma'oz. "Many among the academics in Israel support the Palestinian cause, and there should be more cooperation, not less."

Although he disagreed with Al-Quds's decision, he said he sympathized with the university's frustration over the failure of more Israeli professors to speak out against the attack on Gaza.

"I expect academics to do something, to protest. I tried myself," he said. "The week before the war, I was on the radio saying that Israel should not attack Gaza and should try to reach a political settlement with Hamas, but no one listened. It's one of the frustrations of academics that governments don't listen to us. They ask our advice, and then they take it as ammunition if it suits them."

Palestinian University Suspends Contacts With Israeli Academics

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
DAILY NEWS BLOG February 3, 2009

Jerusalem — The only Palestinian university to maintain ties with Israeli colleges and also to oppose international calls for a boycott of Israeli academics has suspended contacts with Israeli universities in the wake of the war in Gaza.

Al Quds University, with 10,000 students on campuses in the West Bank towns of El Bireh, Abu Dis, and East Jerusalem, had been noted for its ties to Israeli academe despite years of conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. But on Sunday it froze all projects with Israeli colleges for six months, pending a policy review.

The unanimous decision was prompted by Al Quds faculty members, who said they were disappointed that their joint projects with Israeli colleagues had failed to produce any tangible results and had caused friction with other Palestinian universities.

The Al Quds president, Sari Nusseibeh, who in the past has opposed boycotting Israel and has called for “cooperation based on mutual respect,” persuaded his colleagues not to break off ties permanently, but to suspend cooperation for a limited period instead.

Al Quds faculty members told The Chronicle that some Arab donors, notably Kuwait, had refused to provide funds to the university because of its policy of dialogue and cooperation with Israel. Al Quds has about 60 joint projects with Israeli institutions, with a combined budget of about $5-million.

“If the two-state solution is as far away today as it was 10 years ago, there is no justification for continued academic cooperation based on reaching that solution,” said a statement issued by the Al-Quds University board and reported by the International Middle East Media Center. “And there is no justification for continued official and nonofficial cooperation in other fields, foremost security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Ending academic cooperation is aimed at, first of all, pressuring Israel to abide by a solution that ends the occupation, a solution that has been needed for far too long and that the international community has stopped demanding.”

The report linked the decision to rising calls for an academic boycott of Israel in Canada and the United States following the recent fighting in Gaza, in which several Palestinian universities suffered millions of dollars in damage.

The university board expressed disappointment over the absence of serious protest from Israeli academics, in particular, and civil-society organizations, in general, as well as the failure of those groups to “understand the injustice that Palestinians are suffering from.” The board called on local, international, and regional academics to support the university’s stance by halting academic cooperation with Israeli institutions, the Ma’an News Agency reported. —Matthew Kalman

http://matthewkalman.blogspot.com/

Hamas says Fatah taking revenge in West Bank

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Friday, January 23, 2009

Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Ramallah, West Bank - Hundreds of Hamas supporters, including journalists, university students and Muslim leaders, have been beaten, arrested and tortured across the West Bank as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas takes revenge on Hamas for its crackdown on his Fatah supporters in Gaza, Hamas activists say.

The move has deepened growing divisions between Abbas' Fatah party and the Hamas movement that won parliamentary elections in Gaza before seizing total control of the territory in a 2007 bloody coup.

The reported West Bank sweep and its alarming consequences for Palestinian unity pose a sharp challenge to President Obama, who named former Sen. George Mitchell Thursday as his special envoy to the Middle East and pledged to aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Hamas has admitted arresting, executing and torturing Fatah "spies" it has accused of aiding Israel during the three-week invasion of Gaza. Hamas leaders also have branded Abbas as an Israeli collaborator.

The arrests of Hamas supporters in the West Bank began during the Israeli invasion of Gaza, after Abbas imposed strict limits on pro-Hamas demonstrations, according to numerous press reports.

'Emirate of darkness'

"We won't allow Hamas to destroy our national project regardless of the price," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Abbas, who accused Hamas of seeking to establish an "emirate of darkness" in the Gaza Strip.

Khalid Amayreh, a journalist for the Palestine Information Center who has been critical of Abbas' policies, said he spent 55 hours in a rancid, dark, windowless cell in the Preventive Security Force headquarters in Hebron after being invited for coffee Sunday with a local security chief.

"I was arrested for saying things that should not have been said in an interview with a local satellite TV station," Amayreh said. "They thought I was vilifying the Palestinian Authority, distorting its image and inciting people against it."

Although he was not physically mistreated, Amayreh said he heard screams of another prisoner in a nearby cell and saw 10 men being led away with hoods over their heads.

"In Hebron alone they have arrested 56 people," Amayreh said, estimating that between 500 and 600 people had been arrested during the police crackdown. "The Palestinian Authority is very nervous these days."

In Tulkarem, Islamboli Badir, the son of a slain extremist leader named Riad Badir, required medical treatment after electric shock torture by Palestinian General Intelligence, according to Hamas sources.

Sheikh Omar Manna, the imam of the largest mosque in Tulkarem and Sheikh Fayad al-Aghbar, a prominent Hamas figure in Nablus, were arrested on charges of financial crimes.

Schoolteacher Hussein Dib and university students Hani Barabrah and Ala al-Aaraj were arrested immediately after being released from an Israeli jail.

A call for unity

Despite the tit-for-tat arrests and beatings, both sides called for unity Thursday.

Abbas' prime minister, Salam Fayyad, told the Associated Press that the alternative is a permanent rift that will destroy Palestinians' dreams for a state of their own.

In Damascus, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal called for reconciliation, but insisted on pursuing resistance against Israel and having sole control over all international donations to rebuild Gaza, saying Fatah cannot be trusted to handle the aid.

"My impression from Mashaal's speech is that he just closed the door for a national unity government and dialogue," said Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian minister and member of the Palestinian People's Party who edits the Israeli-Palestinian debate Web site bitterlemons.com. "He put conditions of the kind that cannot be met, practically speaking, by the Palestinian Authority. ... It was not the language of a person who wants dialogue."

Khatib said Fatah and Hamas are so deeply divided that they could only be united by international pressure from Syria, Iran and Qatar on Hamas and the United States on Fatah.

'An irreversible situation'

"I think we have reached an irreversible situation," Khatib said. "This new U.S. administration ... could have a major impact on the internal Palestinian situation. Washington very much has a role to play."

Palestinian political analyst Khaled Abu Toameh says Obama could start by pressuring Abbas to rein in security forces trained and financed by the United States and the European Union in a program led by U.S. Gen. Keith Dayton.

The United States and EU are "the same people who are demanding that the Palestinian Authority promote democracy and freedom," said Abu Toameh.

Hamas executes suspected Fatah traitors in Gaza

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Thursday, January 22, 2009

Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Ramallah, West Bank - As Israel's last troops left the Gaza Strip Wednesday, Hamas officials conceded that they are executing Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel during the three-week invasion.

In the West Bank, Fatah officials said at least 19 of its members have been executed and many more brutally tortured. Gaza residents say Hamas is using schools and other public buildings in Gaza City, and the towns of Khan Yunis and Rafah as detention centers to interrogate members of Fatah, their political rivals. They said three men have been blinded during questioning and more than 60 have been shot in the legs as punishment.

"They are committing human rights violations in a very brutal manner," Mahmoud Habbash, Palestinian Authority minister of social welfare said in Ramallah. "Not only did Israel perpetrate war crimes, but Hamas also has been targeting innocent Palestinians."

'Kisses to Israeli warplanes'

A leaflet distributed by the Fatah military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, pleaded with Hamas to "respect the blood of the Palestinian martyrs" and urged them to stop pursuing Fatah members in Gaza. The leaflet said Hamas has arrested hundreds of Fatah members since the cease-fire and has threatened to shoot anyone who refuses to surrender.

While Fatah leaders in the West Bank also accused Hamas of stealing U.N. aid convoys, Hamas officials denounced Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement for collaborating with Israel and said they no longer recognized his authority since his term officially ended on Jan. 9.

In Damascus, Moussa Abu Marzook, the Hamas deputy political leader, told reporters that senior Fatah officials had "distributed candy celebrating the Gaza offensive, sent kisses to Israeli warplanes" and "guided these planes to their targets." Admitting that suspected collaborators were being executed in Gaza, Abu Marzook said "many people from the former Palestinian Authority viewed the Israeli offensive as an opportunity to rise to power again" in Gaza.

Bitter rivals

Hamas and Fatah have been bitter rivals since June 2007, when Hamas ousted Fatah from Gaza after launching a bloody coup against the Abbas government. About 400 Fatah supporters were killed and many others badly maimed.

Since the 23-day Israeli assault on Gaza ended in a cease-fire Sunday, Hamas has repeatedly accused Abbas of backing Israel and has branded him a traitor and collaborator. On the first day of the invasion on Dec. 27, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal called on Palestinians in the West Bank to overthrow the Abbas government in a "quiet intifada." More recently, Mohammed Al-Ghoul, Hamas justice minister, said Abbas should be put on trial for conspiring against the Palestinian people "in full coordination with the Israeli occupation."

Ihab Ghissin, a spokesman for the Hamas Ministry of Interior in Gaza, confirmed the arrest of Fatah activists. "We have managed to capture a number of collaborators who are now being questioned for their role in aiding the Zionist aggression," he told reporters in Gaza City.

Fatah officials have dismissed the accusations of spying for Israel, pointing out that Abbas has described Israel's three-week offensive as "barbaric and criminal." On Tuesday, Abbas backed an Arab League statement that accused Israel of war crimes. On Wednesday, a Fatah flyer calling West Bank residents to attend mass rallies today to condemn the invasion said "Israeli aggression did not distinguish between Palestinian factions."

David Makovsky, director of the Washington Institute's Project on the Middle East Peace Process, says Hamas has been hurling spy accusations at Fatah since the takeover of Gaza.

"It's clearly more palatable to Hamas to accuse Fatah of collaborating with Israel than to openly admit their desire for raw power over Gaza," said Makovsky.

Hamas proof

But Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel said he has proof that Fatah helped Israel assassinate security chief Said Siam, commander of the 15,000-strong Hamas Executive Force militia. Siam was killed along with his brother and another senior security official in an air strike last week. Bardaweel said Fatah informants reported directly to Abbas officials in the West Bank.

"We had arrested a number of them prior to the Israeli assault, and we found them with plans showing homes of Hamas' leaders, and places where Hamas stores its weapons. They have admitted their guilt and told us names of their masters, who would, in turn, inform the Israeli intelligence ... to facilitate the Israeli mission," said Bardaweel.

In Gaza City, Fatah activists told spine-chilling stories of retribution.

Relatives of Abed al-Gharabli, a former Fatah security officer who spent 12 years in an Israeli prison, said he was kidnapped by a group of Hamas militiamen who shot him in both legs after severely torturing him.

Ziad Abu Hayeh, a Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade commander, is reported to have been blinded after being abducted from his home in Khan Yunis by Hamas gunmen.

In other cases, Fatah supporters were simply shot in the legs - a favored Hamas tactic during the 2007 coup that drove Fatah out of Gaza.

The crackdown suggests it will not be easy to bring Hamas and Fatah together in a national unity government that many observers believe is the only way to lift international sanctions against Gaza and ensure the speedy flow of goods to a population in desperate need of aid. The European Union has said it will not give reconstruction funds to Hamas, only to the Abbas government.

As Cease-Fire Takes Hold, Palestinian Universities Regroup and Israeli Colleges Reopen

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
DAILY NEWS BLOG: January 20, 2009

Jerusalem — Israeli and Palestinian colleges affected by the three-week Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip are resuming studies after Sunday’s cease-fire. But some Gaza campuses have been so badly damaged it could take many weeks to return to normal.

Many university buildings in Gaza suffered serious collateral damage from Israeli air strikes and a ground invasion. University officials said it was too early to say how many students and academics were among the 1,300 Palestinian dead and more than 4,000 wounded.

The most affected college was the Islamic University in Gaza City, which Israel made a specific target and accused of being a center for weapons development by Hamas. The university, with 20,000 students, is the largest in the Gaza Strip.

“We have two buildings completely destroyed — the science-laboratory block and the engineering-laboratory block — and 10 other buildings are partially damaged,” Islamic University’s president, Kamalain Shaath, told The Chronicle. “Our maintenance people are trying to make basic preparations and fix things up. The water connections, electricity, Internet, and phone are all damaged. The e-mail is down.”

Mr. Shaath estimated it would cost $10-million to repair the damage to buildings and equipment.

He said he hoped that faculty members would be able to return to the campus on Saturday. Students were supposed to take their fall-semester examinations when the war broke out. The exams will probably resume in about two weeks.

Officials at other universities, which suffered indirect damage, hope to resume exams on the weekend. Yahya Sarraj, dean of the University College of Applied Sciences, said he was planning how to accommodate his 6,000 students while the damage was being repaired.

“There is indirect damage from shells which destroyed some classrooms, laboratories, and computer equipment,” Mr. Sarraj said. “We might resume the exams on Saturday, but we will have to find other rooms. We might use the cafeteria and whatever space is available.”

Across the border, Israeli colleges have already resumed full activity. Staff members at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beersheba, worked through the emergency even as rockets fell near the campus, causing some damage to buildings. A business-studies lecturer was badly wounded in a rocket attack last Thursday as she drove home. The university’s 17,000 students returned to classes today.

At Sapir College, in Sderot, which was the target of most Hamas rocket attacks for the past eight years, classes resumed more than a week ago. In the past, rockets fell directly on the college, killing one student, but the campus suffered only minor damage during the most recent violence.

“We decided to add one week to the semester, and we have shortened the exam period by a week,” said a college spokesman, Simon Tamir. “A handful of students have left because of the situation — maybe 10 out of 6,000,” he said. —Matthew Kalman

Posted on Tuesday January 20, 2009

Hamas makes revenge bid against Fatah members, suspected collaborators

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, January 20th

BY MATTHEW KALMAN in Jerusalem, ERICA SILVERMAN in Ramallah, West Bank, and HELEN KENNEDY in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Israeli troops marched home Monday but there was no end to the bloodshed in Gaza as Hamas began carrying out vicious reprisals against suspected collaborators.

Members of the rival Fatah party said dozens of their men were executed by Hamas, allegedly for helping Israel target Hamas, and several were being tortured.

Three Fatah men had their eyes put out during "interrogation" by Hamas thugs and as many as 80 Fatah members were either shot in the legs or had their hands broken for defying Hamas' house-arrest orders.

"What's happening in the Gaza Strip is a new massacre that is being carried out by Hamas against Fatah," said a Fatah activist in Gaza City. "Where were these cowards when the Israeli Army was here?"

Israeli troops and tanks that poured into Gaza Jan. 3 were in full retreat. Officials told the Haaretz newspaper that they aimed to have every soldier out by Barack Obama's inauguration at noon Tuesday.

Obama and incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have signaled they plan a hands-on Middle East policy. The Bush administration, until recent years, has been largely hands off.

Internal Palestinian schisms are certain to complicate matters for the new administration.

Hamas and Fatah have been bitter rivals since June 2007, when Hamas launched a bloody coup against the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, killing about 400 Fatah supporters and maiming many others.

The issue of collaboration is urgent in Gaza because Israel was able to pinpoint the secret locations of many Hamas homes and offices - suggesting the use of high-level informants.

Hamas repeatedly accused Abbas and his men of backing the three-week Israeli assault on Gaza that ended Sunday.

Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel said Fatah "spies" helped Israel to assassinate Hamas security chief Said Siam, who was killed in a missile strike on his brother's home last week.

Bardaweel said informants reported directly to Abbas' office in the West Bank.

Fatah's paramilitary wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, distributed leaflets begging Hamas to "respect the blood of the Palestinian martyrs" and leave Fatah members alone.

A Fatah official told the Jerusalem Post that Hamas' failure to stand up to Israel's assault on Gaza is fueling their intramural fury.

"They were afraid to confront the Israeli Army and many Hamas militiamen even ran away during the fighting," he said. "Hamas is now venting its anger and frustration against our Fatah members there."

Gaza residents said Hamas had commandeered schools and other public buildings as temporary detention centers, where prisoners were being systematically tortured.

At the start of the Israeli bombing campaign, several Fatah prisoners taken to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza were executed as they lay in their beds.

Relatives of Abed al-Gharabli, a Fatah security officer who spent 12 years in an Israeli prison, said he was kidnapped by a group of Hamas militiamen who shot him in both legs after severely torturing him.

http://matthewkalman.blogspot.com/

Palestinians emerge on cease-fire's first day

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Monday, January 19, 2009

Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Jerusalem - Thousands of Palestinians emerged onto the streets of Gaza on Sunday for the first time in days, after Israel suspended its aerial bombardment and heavy street fighting. But for many who had fled from homes in the areas worst affected by the three-week Israeli military onslaught, there was no homecoming.

Houses, mosques and entire apartment blocks have been reduced to rubble by a combination of Israeli bombing and Hamas' own explosive booby-traps.

Although Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh hailed the cease-fire as wise and responsible, many Gazans had only one question on Sunday: How long will the cease-fire hold? There was a palpable fear that this truce is so fragile it could collapse at the slightest provocation.

In fact, there isn't one cease-fire, but two parallel processes in which each side is studiously refusing to engage the other directly, while making demands that are so tough it is hard to see how they will be kept.

The Israelis stepped up to the plate first, unilaterally announcing they would halt all offensive measures at 2 a.m. Sunday. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would return fire if attacked - as it was repeatedly on Sunday morning - and called for a long-term cease-fire conditioned on an end to rocket attacks from the coastal strip and a halt to weapons smuggling, which it hopes to achieve with the help of Egypt, the United States and other international guarantors.

After dismissing the Israeli move, Hamas announced its own separate truce about 12 hours later, in its turn conditioned on Israeli forces leaving the Gaza Strip within a week and the opening of all border crossings into Israel and Egypt.

Israel said its soldiers could stay longer and has linked opening the crossings to the return of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in June 2006.

Palestinian analyst Khaled Abu Toameh said Hamas was forced to end this round of fighting through sheer exhaustion.

"They had no other choice," said Abu Toameh. "They have been hit hard. Both sides now have an interest in maintaining the cease-fire. Hamas will be too busy reorganizing and rebuilding what was destroyed. They won't have time to fight. They now have an interest in preserving the lull as long as possible."

A six-month cease-fire last year was honored more in the breach, with Israel refusing to open the border crossing and sporadic Hamas rocket attacks - often directed against those same crossings.

Matt Beynon Rees, author of "A Grave in Gaza," said he expects this truce to play out similarly, but he does not expect Hamas will risk another round too soon.

"The cease-fire won't actually mean that the fighting stops, but it'll mean that both sides will overlook small outbursts of violence because they are both desperate to end the big battle that we've seen," said Rees.

"How long it will last depends on how desperate Hamas is to give the people of Gaza some breathing space."

Rees said Hamas is unlikely to survive another Israeli onslaught and therefore will be careful not push the Israelis too far.

"Hamas has to pose as the resistance that refuses to back down, but it's been pummeled as hard as the buildings in Gaza City and it needs some time to rebuild," he said.

Israel and the West would prefer the Fatah-led government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to be in charge, but Fatah has yet to recover from losing the 2006 election to Hamas and then being ousted from Gaza by a Hamas-led effort in June 2007.

Abbas' term as president expired Jan. 9, but he refused to call a new election for fear he would lose that as well. Israel and Egypt are trying to bring Abbas' forces back to supervise the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border, but his return under their protection would only fuel suspicions that he is acting as an agent of the Israeli government.

Replacing Hamas with Abbas' Fatah-led government is no longer a stated aim of the Israeli government, but many Israelis are divided on the question of whether the military operation should have continued with the aim of destroying Haniyeh and his colleagues.

"We cannot eliminate such terror organizations in Gaza unless we stay there for more than a year, go from house to house, from backyard to backyard, and from sewage pit to attic - and even then, we will not see elimination," said Eitan Haber, a former adviser to assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. "Those who speak about 'elimination' understand nothing and are just part of the useless chatter. A unilateral cease-fire is the best we can achieve."

But Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who polls suggest will be Israel's next prime minister, thinks differently.

"The Israel Defense Forces have dealt Hamas a severe blow, but unfortunately the job has not been completed," Netanyahu said Sunday.

"Hamas still controls Gaza and will continue to smuggle improved rockets through the Philadelphi route," he said, referring to Gaza's border with Egypt by its Israeli military codename. "We cannot show any weakness in the face of the Iranian-backed Hamas terror and must act with an iron fist to defeat the enemy."

Israelis kill Hamas interior minister Said Siam

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, January 16th 2009

BY MATTHEW KALMAN
DAILY NEWS WRITER

JERUSALEM - Israel notched a huge psychological victory Thursday by assassinating the Hamas interior minister - the most senior terror leader to die since the Gaza blitz began three weeks ago.

Israel also shelled the main United Nations compound in Gaza, setting fire to its fuel depot and sparking an inferno that sent huge plumes of black smoke billowing over Gaza City and destroyed millions of dollars of humanitarian supplies.

About 700 Palestinian civilians were taking shelter in the building, but there were only a handful of injuries.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was in Jerusalem to meet with Israeli officials, called it an "outrage," and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the strike "indefensible."

Ban later told reporters that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak had apologized, calling the attack on the UN "a grave mistake" that was being taken "very seriously."

Even as truce talks were progressing in Cairo, Hamas vowed revenge for the death of Hamas No. 3 Said Siam, killed in a missile strike on his brother's house.

"The blood of Said Siam will be a curse on the Zionist entity," Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal told Al Jazeera.

Siam, a former science professor, became one of Hamas' most hard-line ideologues.

He was the commander of the feared Hamas Executive Force, the black-uniformed paramilitary service that led the Hamas coup against Fatah in June 2007, killing 400 Palestinians in the rival faction.

Israeli officials were confident Siam's death would be a stunning blow to Hamas morale. That's because the strike was based on precise intelligence of Siam's movements, showing that the highest levels of Hamas have been penetrated by Israeli intelligence.

In Cairo, Hamas appeared more isolated than ever after Syrian leader Bashar Assad - its protector and host in Damascus - threw his weight behind a ceasefire plan that would include ending Hamas rocket fire into Israel.

Israel denies using bombs that cause deep burns

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Jerusalem - Sabah Abu Halimah's tears trickled down her discolored cheeks. The skin on her upper chest and neck were pockmarked with black spots and fingers poking out from between heavy bandages looked raw.

As Abu Halimah lay in a bed at Gaza's Shifa Hospital on Tuesday, she described how a "ball of fire" engulfed her house in the northern Gaza village of Beit Lahiya. Abu Halimah said her extended family of 18 people were cowering in the living room when rockets fell.

"I was breastfeeding my baby girl when suddenly something exploded, and I heard my son calling 'Mom, fire!' I tried to stand up but the blast seemed to hit my head, which felt like it was on fire. I think I must have fainted," she said. "When I woke up and looked across the room, I saw the blackened bodies of my husband and my teenage son like pieces of charcoal. Both their heads were severed completely from their bodies. Even their blood wasn't red, it was black. And my baby daughter was dead."

Down the corridor, Basel El-Assali was comforting his 16-year-old son, Mahmoud, who had severe burns to his face and chest, caused when a fire bomb with "yellow light and white smoke" hit their home in Jebaliya north of Gaza.

"I saw a huge ball of fire falling from the sky which became other smaller balls with the white smoke," he said. "My other son was outside the house. He couldn't get close to help his brother because the fire was burning him and the smoke was choking him."

Doctors at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said they had never seen such burn cases before.

"These are very strange types of injuries and burns. We don't know the type of weapons used which cause these injuries," said Nafaz Abu Shaaban, the hospital's head of plastic surgery for the past 20 years. "The cases we received in the last few days are not usual burns. It's severe, massive burns, very deep burns. The site of the injury continues to produce smoke and burning for a long time, even after dressing," he said.

Shaaban said a visiting doctor who knows about such burn injuries "told us that this might be from the use of white phosphorous bombs."

"From my experience, these are deep burns as a result of the white phosphorous, which causes damage to the skin, muscles and the blood vessels," said Mohammed El-Abbade, a plastic surgery specialist from Jordan.

On Sunday, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of illegally using white phosphorus shells in its conflict with Hamas.

"Human Rights Watch has analyzed photographs taken by the media on the Israel-Gaza border showing Israeli artillery units handling fused WP artillery shells, as well as video of air bursts over Gaza followed by tendrils of smoke and flame that are highly indicative of WP use," the organization said in a statement. "The potential for harm to civilians is magnified by Gaza's high population density, among the highest in the world."

But Israel has rejected such charges.

On Tuesday, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi denied the Israeli military is doing anything illegal.

"The Israel Defense Forces act only in accordance with what is permitted by international law and does not use white phosphorous," Ashkenazi told the Israeli Parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in Tel Aviv.

Israeli officials also point out that it is Hamas fighters who are acting illegally by launching rocket attacks on Israeli towns rather than specific military targets.

The controversy over white phosphorous shells

Under international law, white phosphorous shells can be legally used to illuminate large areas at night or provide cover for advancing ground troops by creating a smokescreen.

When fired, fragments of phosphorous, sometimes known as "shake and bake," burst into flames on contact with air, causing fires, destroying buildings and burning those who come in contact with its napalm-like agents.

According to Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, such incendiary weapons are prohibited against "any military objective located within a concentration of civilians." Some human rights groups are pushing to ban the shells by re-classifying them as a chemical weapon.

Neither the United States nor Israel is a signatory to Protocol III.

Israel has admitted using white phosphorus during its 34-day war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, while the United States reportedly used the shells in Iraq during the battle for the city of Fallujah in 2004.

Chronicle Foreign Service correspondent Matthew Kalman reported from Jerusalem and freelance reporter Ahmed Abu Hamda contributed from Gaza City.

U.S., Israel in ceasefire spat

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, January 14th 2009

BY MATTHEW KALMAN in Jerusalem and HELEN KENNEDY in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Khateb/AP

An Israeli airstrike as seen in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The friendship between Jerusalem and Washington came under unusual strain Tuesday after Israel's prime minister bragged of ordering President Bush around - and a red-faced State Department slapped him down.

As Israeli troops tightened their hold on Gaza City, fighting block by block amid signs Hamas might be closer to surrender, a behind-the-scenes battle was raging in diplomatic corridors.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert bragged Monday that he made Bush order Secretary of State Rice to abstain from a UN ceasefire resolution she had worked hard to help draft.

"I said, 'Get me President Bush on the phone,'" Olmert said. "They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care: 'I need to talk to him now.' They got him off the podium ... I told him, 'You can't vote in favor.'"

Olmert crowed that Rice was "left pretty shamed."

Rice spokesman Sean McCormack said that Olmert's account was "just 100% totally completely not true" and suggested the Israeli government might want to correct the record.

McCormack said Rice never supported the resolution.

When reporters asked why she spent three days working on a resolution she didn't support, McCormack accused them of "flagellum equus mortuus" - Latin for beating a dead horse.

A transcript of Bush's 27-minute speech at a Philadelphia school Thursday shows no interruption.

Meanwhile in Gaza, there were signs that Hamas was begining to cave.

At talks in Cairo, there were reports that Hamas would agree to Turkish troops patrolling the Hamas smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border - a key condition set by Israel for a ceasefire.

Much was made of the "frightened" demeanor of Ismail Haniya, Hamas' Gaza political leader, in a video where he said, "Hamas will cooperate with any initiative that will bring about an end to the aggression ... We will react to any such initiative positively."

More than 950 Palestinians have been killed since Operation Cast Lead began Dec. 27. The Israeli Defense Forces says about half were known Hamas operatives.

"Hamas has been badly hit, in terms of losses in manpower including some top commanders, and also in terms of property, infrastructure, weapons caches and staging areas," said Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, the IDF's top general.

He also said Hamas suicide bombers were dressing in IDF uniforms and that Hamas was forcing Palestinian civilians to act as human shields.

Two fathers separated by war, united in grief

(Blog: January 13, 2009)

By Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM - Ella Abukasis was a popular, fun-loving, 17-year-old schoolgirl from Sderot in southern Israel who doted on her 10-year-old brother Tamir. On January 15, 2005, she was walking Tamir home from the local youth club when the "Colour Red" sirens began began booming across the town, giving them 15 seconds to take cover from an incoming Qassam rocket fired from Gaza.

Ever since the Hamas reign of terror began, Ella had looked after the little boy, sleeping alongside him and taking him everywhere. But on this Saturday afternoon there was nowhere to hide. Ella lay her brother down next to a wall and shielded his body with her own.

Seconds later, a Qassam rocket slammed into the street beside them, sending shards of jagged metal and debris scorching through the air.

Tamir escaped with relatively minor injuries, shielded by his guardian angel, but Ella took the full force of the blast.

She was rushed to hospital in a coma. Three days later, doctors declared Ella brain-dead and she was disconnected from life-support. She never regained consciousness.

Tamir was released from hospital the day his sister died, but neither he nor his parents have recovered from the senseless loss of their wonderful girl.

"He still has shrapnel lodged in his head and psychologically he has been scarred for life," said their father Yonatan, 50, the only member of the family who can bring himself to talk about the tragedy.

"Every time there is a boom of another rocket, he can't take it. He can't sleep. His childhood has been stolen from him. Only when he goes away from Sderot can he relax. At home every sudden noise makes him re-live that terrible nightmare," said Abukasis.

Since 2001, 3,984 rockets and 3,943 mortar shells have been launched at Israel from Gaza, many of them at the sleepy lower-middle-class town of Sderot just across the border. It has now reduced to a ghost town.

Egypt brokered a truce that took effect last June, but the Palestinians still fired 223 rockets and 139 mortar shells from the Hamas-controlled enclave.

"I wish people around the world would understand that people have been dying in this town while Hamas fires without restraint. I don't think they get it. If all those people in London went out to demonstrate support for Hamas, they just don't understand the hell we have been going through for eight years. I'd like to invite all those demonstrators to come here and see the conditions we are living under," said Abukasis.

"It's a nightmare. There is nothing worse than feeling unsafe in your own home. All the time we sit and wait for the next rocket. We cannot lead a normal life. We cannot take the kids out to play. We can hardly leave the house at all. Every day, we are living on the edge," he said.

Abukasis and his surviving family still live in the same house, where the memory of Ella hangs heavy in the air. They have opened a youth center in the town dedicated to her memory.

"We will stay here. Hamas has only one thought – to drive us out, but they won't succeed," he said.

Abukasis believes that Israel had no choice but to invade Gaza, after Hamas refused to renew the six-month truce.

"I support it," he said. "You cannot allow this quasi-state to subject its neighbours to the point where we are living in fear every day. We cannot let a bunch of terrorists control our lives and tell us when we can go to school or work, or when we can go out.

"It's a shame the Israeli army didn't act sooner. It would have saved many lives on both sides.

"I hope we don't stop half way and withdraw based on some promise from Hamas. These people cannot be trusted. If they still have their missiles at the end of this, they will only attack us again. We must see this through to the end. We must put an end to Hamas and destroy all their weapons," he said.

At a house in Gaza City, Mohammed Darabeh was mourning the death of his wife Mojod and wondering about the fate of his five young daughters. She was killed and the girls aged 4 to 12 were injured when an Israeli shell exploded next to their ramshackle house in Beit Lahiya, scene of intense fighting all week.

"We had taken cover in one room of our house. I went to the next room to bring some water and there was a huge explosion. I think a bomb fell next to the house and shrapnel ripped through the walls. They are only thin. Mojod was killed instantly and the girls were all taken to hospital," Darabeh said, his mood switching between disbelief and fury as relatives came to offer their condolences.

"Why did this happen? What did she do? What did we do? There were no fighters. No-one was shooting from there. I received no warning, and even if I did, how could I leave with my family through the middle of the fighting? We have nowhere to go," he said.

"The Israelis want to drive us out of our house, to drive us from our homeland," he said. "They took our land, now they want more. They want to throw us into the sea. But we will never leave. We will stay and our resistance will win. We will not move from here even if they kill us."

But a few miles away in Sderot, Yonatan Abukasis said the people of Gaza had no-one to blame but themselves.

"I know they are suffering now on the other side, but they brought this on themselves. They have to take responsibility. I didn't elect Hamas, they did. They attacked us. They killed my daughter and no-one paid them back. Now, finally, we have to defend ourselves. They must understand that anyone who threatens us, who kills our children, is in danger.

"If they want to live normal lives, good lives, all they have to do is stop firing. We don't want to fight them," he said.

Israel threatens Gaza with "iron fist" as Hamas rejects truce

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, January 13th 2009

BY MATTHEW KALMAN in Jerusalem and HELEN KENNEDY in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Israel massed more troops Monday and threatened to pound Gaza with an "iron fist" if its security demands are not met, but Hamas rejected any truce and declared, "Gaza will not break."

Palestinian civilians caught in the middle continued to suffer and die. The latest death toll was 911 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

"We want to end this," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said. "If [Hamas stops firing rockets and closes its smuggling tunnels] we will end our military operation. Anything else will be met with the iron fist of the Israeli people."

As fresh Israeli reservists began pouring into Gaza, along with reports of tough urban warfare in Gaza City, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh vowed to continue fighting.

"Gaza will not break - our victory over the Zionists is near," he said in a videotaped statement.

Israel charged that the Hamas leadership had holed up in a bomb-proof basement under the central Shifa Hospital - a facility, ironically, fortified by Israel when it was refurbished during the occupation of the 1980s.

"Shifa Hospital has long ago ceased to be just a hospital," Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said on Army radio.

"It is somewhat of an open secret that Hamas commanders walk around the hospital, in some instances wearing doctor's robes," Dichter said.

The charge, which has not been substantiated by the foreign reporters crowding the hospital, raised fears that the most crucial facility in Gaza City might become a target.

Hamas fired at least 14 rockets into Israel, including 10 during the three-hour daily ceasefire Israel called to allow aid to be distributed. There were no injuries.

Ezzadin Abu El-Aish, a Palestinian doctor who used to work in Israel, cowered in his house on the outskirts of Gaza City listening to heavy street fighting.

"After all the shooting we heard last night, I thought I wouldn't be getting up this morning," he said.

Israel hints at end of Gaza operations

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, January 12th 2009

BY MATTHEW KALMAN Jerusalem and HELEN KENNEDY in New York
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Israeli leaders hinted Sunday the Gaza assault might soon wind down, even as thousands of fresh reservists joined the battle and infantry units pushed toward the crowded heart of Gaza City.

"It would seem that we are close to ending the ground operation - and ending the operation altogether," Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said.

"Israel is nearing the goals that it set for itself," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

"However, further patience, determination and effort are necessary."

Olmert has said the aim of Operation Cast Lead, which has killed 878 Palestinians and 12 Israelis in 16 days, was to halt the shower of Hamas rockets fired into Israel.

Officials have said they do not plan to reoccupy Gaza or wipe out Hamas, but have contingency plans ready to do just that.

At least two dozen Hamas rockets fell on Israeli towns Sunday, including one that landed near a kindergarten in Ashdod and another that landed in the backyard of a house in Sderot.

There were no injuries.

The Gaza City skyline was blotted with plumes of black smoke as Israeli soldiers, backed by hovering helicopter gunships, advanced toward the city center from the southwest, the east and the north.

Thousands of reservists were massing on the border, including commandos versed in close-quarter urban combat.

Israeli war planes continued to bombard targets up and down the 20-mile-long strip. They said they were hitting explosives tunnels, underground missile launchers and hidden weapons caches.

Israel's military intelligence chief, Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, said a split was emerging between Hamas leaders in Damascus, who want to keep fighting, and Hamas leaders in Gaza, who were considering compromise.

"Hamas is crying, 'Stop.' They are dying to respond to the blow they received and recover from their lack of operative successes in the field. On the other hand, they don't want to wave the white flag," Yadlin said.

"The Hamas leadership in Damascus is isolated. Their leadership in Gaza is paralyzed. Their military wing is evasive," he added.

Meanwhile, the United Nations resumed food deliveries after receiving assurances from the Israeli Army there would be no repeat of two attacks on UN trucks last week.

Filippo Grandi, an official with the UN refugee agency, said most ordinary Palestinians in Gaza didn't have a political agenda but they were becoming "terrified, starving, thirsty and traumatized, more desperate and more angry."

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