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Monday, 12 January 2009 Vol. 16 Number 4575 18 Pages

January 12, 2009 (First Part) FRONT PAGE______PRESIDENT ABBAS DISCUSSES WITH THE JORDANIAN KING THE EFFORTS EXERTED TOWARDS A CEASEFIRE Palestinian President Abbas discussed with the Jordanian King yesterday the efforts exerted at the Arab and international fronts to reach a ceasefire. King Abdullah II was quoted saying that Israel has to abide by the UN Security Council resolution 1860, stop its aggression on Gaza, lift the siege imposed on the Palestinian people, and allow the entry of humanitarian and medical assistance. (al-Quds)

ABED RABBO: HAMAS HAS BEEN GIVEN 24 HOURS TO AGREE TO THE EGYPTIAN INITIATIVE PLO Executive Committee Secretary Yasser Abed Rabbo revealed that the Egyptian leadership gave Hamas 24 hours to respond to the Egyptian initiative; the 24-hour ultimatum came after Hamas expressed reservations on the initiative. He affirmed that the PA believes that implementing the Egyptian initiative is a victory over the Israeli aggression against Gaza Strip and that any stalling will give the occupation justification to continue with the aggression and bloodshed. (www.alquds.com)

HAMAS DELEGATION ENDS ITS TALKS IN CAIRO WITHOUT REACHING AN AGREEMENT MANY DETAILS IMPEDE AGREEMENT ON EGYPTIAN INITIATIVE Hamas delegation left Cairo yesterday to hold consultations with regards to the Egyptian initiative and to give the Egyptian side time to give its response to Hamas reservations before the movement gives its final response. A Hamas leading figure revealed that Hamas rejected an Egyptian offer for a long-term truce with Israel; he affirmed that there are many details that need to be discussed before we can say that we reached an agreement in principle. Hamas figures Imad al-Alami and Ayman Taha remained in Cairo waiting for the other members of the delegation who left to Damascus for consultations. A Hamas source said the meeting with Omar Suleiman lasted two hours yesterday and the long term truce is among the outstanding issues that Hamas expresses reservations against and need careful and detailed discussion, wondering why not have a six- month truce or truce for one year? Other reservations include the issue of presence of international troops in Gaza Strip and the issue related to the Israeli withdrawal because it is not clear what is meant by withdrawal: Will it be complete withdrawal or Israel maintaining control points and strategic areas and setting up a time framework to test the conduct of Hamas? And there are no guarantees to achieve this if Hamas stops rocket firing. Some unclear points also include the

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arrangements to operate the crossings and mechanism to operate them and the promise not to allow arms smuggling. He pointed out that the resistance doesn’t import weapons in a legal manner in order to make a commitment on this matter. He explained: Hamas wants to improve the conditions of the initiative and to see it become an integrated paper to be implemented in parallel and not through gradual steps without a specific mechanism or time ceiling. He added that the clause related to national reconciliation is not clear and needs further details and the initiative talks about the PLO as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people; he wondered: is recognizing the PLO and its commitments a condition to achieve the clause on national reconciliation? (al-Hayat) HEADLINES ______* Paltel group maintains the steadfastness of telecommunications network in Gaza Strip. (al- Quds) * The sixteenth day of the aggression: 900 martyrs and more than 4,000 injuries. Gaza is under the hell of raids and the phosphorus burning bombs cause more casualties. (Al-Quds) * Israeli officials: The aggression on Gaza Strip achieved its goals and ending it is soon. (Al- Quds) * During the 3rd meeting of the Higher Committee for Gaza Relief, Dr. Fayyad: The donations will be deducted from the taxable income. Ramallah and al-Bireh Committee demands coordinating efforts and marches. (al-Quds) * Gaza residents: the Israeli troops are disguised in Hamas men uniform. (al-Quds) * 25,000 citizens have sought refuge at UNRWA schools fleeing from the Israeli shelling. (al- Quds) * The Israeli three-hour truce included artillery shelling. (Al-Quds) * Obama promises to act quickly on the Middle East and Iranian nuclear file issues. (Al-Quds) * Administration of Obama might hold direct talks with Hamas. (Al-Quds) * New York Times: Bush’s government rejects an Israeli plan to attack Iranian Natanz nuclear plant. (Al-Quds) * Early this dawn: Israel decides to continue and expand the aggression and Amos Gilad will not travel to Cairo today. (Al-Ayyam) * Heavy shelling on the city of Gaza in preparation for invading it. (Al-Ayyam) * 54 martyrs yesterday, including 28 children, and 440 injuries. (Al-Ayyam) * The occupation troops conduct training on incursion of Gaza city. (Al-Ayyam) * Israeli reinforcements from reserve units into Gaza Strip. (Al-Ayyam) * Qassam announces targeting occupation helicopters and the factions continue to fire rockets towards Israeli towns. (Al-Ayyam) * An Israeli plan to occupy regions in Gaza Strip (especially on the borders with Egypt) for specific period. Olmert talks about the aggression to end soon. (Al-Ayyam) * Three Egyptian policemen and two children injured in Israeli shelling on Palestinian Rafah. (Al- Ayyam) * Amro Musa: Consultations to hold a new meeting for the Arab FMs. (Al-Ayyam) * Gunfire shooting from Syria towards Israeli soldiers in the Golan. (Al-Ayyam) * President Abbas discusses with Jordanian King the efforts exerted to reach a ceasefire. (Al- Ayyam) * Obama: We are preparing a working team to start working from the first day on the Middle East peace process in order to set up an approach that meets the aspirations of the Palestinians and Israelis. (Al-Ayyam)

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* Egypt intensifies efforts towards a ceasefire and Israel raises doubts on the efficiency of an international force. The Israeli officials focus on the tunnels. (Al-Ayyam) * Israel claims: Hamas leaders hide in headquarters of foreign missions. (Al-Ayyam) * The UNRWA: new Palestinians joined the people who sought refuge at the UNRWA schools. (Al-Ayyam) * Israel claims: Hamas leaders hide in headquarters of foreign missions. (Al-Hayat al-Jadida) * Israel reinforces its troops and talks about the aggression coming to an end soon. (Al-Hayat al-Jadida) * An Israeli court remands Shaheen and Sarhan, reporters of al-Alam TV station. (Al-Hayat al- Jadida) * Qatar rules out closing the Israeli commercial representative office as an individual step. Qatar requests holding an emergency meeting for the Arab FMs. (Al-Hayat al-Jadida) FRONT PAGE PHOTOS ______Al-Quds: A citizen carrying an injured baby who was hit by the Israeli shelling in Gaza yesterday. Al-Ayyam: 1) A citizen receiving medical treatment after suffering serious burns when the occupation troops used internationally banned white phosphorus in its shelling against the residential areas in Khan Yunis; 2) Citizens seeking refuge at UNRWA school in Jabalia Camp running away from the Israeli shelling. Al-Hayat al-Jadida: 1) Smoke coming out as a phosphorus bomb falls on Jabalia yesterday; 2) President Abbas and Jordanian King during their meeting in Amman yesterday. NEWS______Two Egyptian children among 4 wounded in IAF strike near Gaza Reuters Two Egyptian children and two police officers were wounded by shrapnel from Israel Air Force bombs near a crossing point at Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, security sources said. The children, aged two and five, and the two officers were the first Egyptians to be wounded by Israeli bombs since the Israeli offensive against Gaza began on Dec. 27, and were taken to hospitals in el- Arish. There were no details of the gravity of their wounds. Witnesses said Egyptian houses near the border and government offices at the crossing were damaged by shrapnel on Sunday. Israel has expanded its air campaign to the southern Gaza Strip, aiming at smuggling tunnels running under the border with Egypt. One Egyptian border guard has been killed and two have been wounded in clashes with Palestinians trying to enter Egypt since the Israeli offensive began. The Palestinian death toll in Gaza since the beginning of the offensive stands at 874, many of them civilians, Gaza medical officials said. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians have also been killed in the conflict. Earlier Sunday, witnesses said that Israel Air Force warplanes have been flying over Egyptian territory during their bombing runs along the border between Gaza and Egypt. The witnesses, who have spent many hours close to the Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza, said they had seen the Israeli planes fly over on several occasions, often at such low altitude that it was clear they were over Egyptian territory. Israeli planes have been bombing on the Gaza side of the border, within a few hundreds of meters of Egypt, targeting tunnels which Israel says the Islamist movement Hamas uses for smuggling weapons into Gaza. The three witnesses said they wanted to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the matter.

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The Egyptian government has faced a barrage of criticism for cooperating with Israel in the blockade of Gaza over the past six months. Israeli and Egyptian Defense Ministry officials either were unavailable or had no comment on the reports, and it was not clear if Israel was giving Egypt any warning of the flights. Under the peace treaty which Egypt and Israel signed in 1979, Israel has the right to fly combat planes up to the international border, while Egyptian combat planes cannot fly east of a zone which covers roughly the western third of the Sinai peninsula.

News Analysis Crisis in Gaza Imperils 2-State Plan By Michael Slackman – New York Times CAIRO — With every image of the dead in Gaza inflaming people across the Arab world, Egyptian and Jordanian officials are worried that they see a fundamental tenet of the Middle East peace process slipping away: the so-called two-state solution, an independent Palestinian state coexisting with Israel. Egypt and Jordan fear that they will be pressed to absorb the Palestinian populations now living beyond their borders. If Israel does not assume responsibility for humanitarian aid in Gaza, for example, pressure could compel Egypt to fill the vacuum; Jordan, in turn, worries that Israel will try to push Palestinians from the West Bank into its territory. In that case, both states fear, they could become responsible for policing the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel, undermining their peace treaties with Israel. The Palestinian cause has always been an explosive, emotional and destabilizing one for Arab states. Islamist parties have scored points with the public by making much of traditional Arab leaders’ failure to help the Palestinians. The Gaza conflict, by reigniting these passions, is deepening regional rivalries and further upending traditional balances of power. Egypt and to some extent Jordan have been thrown off balance by the withering criticism they have faced. Arrayed against them is the alliance of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas, the quartet that is fighting against a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — and with that, against the two- state solution. In Egypt, where leaders have been castigated for refusing to keep open the Rafah crossing to Gaza, officials have argued that they are bound by the agreement on border security that followed Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. But there is an underlying subtext to their message: that Gaza is not Egypt’s problem. “Gaza is no longer Egypt’s responsibility, and Egypt is determined not to take it back,” said Abdel Raoud el-Reedy, a former ambassador to the United States who is the chairman of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs. Egypt controlled Gaza, a 140-square-mile coastal strip, until the 1967 war with Israel. Now, Egypt is trying to negotiate a cease-fire there, because resolving the conflict is very much in its interests. Representatives of Hamas were in Cairo on Sunday and representatives from Israel were expected to arrive Monday, officials said. Hamas wants the border open, but Egypt has refused, except for humanitarian passage for the injured coming out and medicine going in. Israel wants an international force on the Egyptian side of the border, to prevent smuggling through illegal tunnels, but Egypt has refused, saying that would undermine its sovereignty. Rather than saying explicitly that Egypt does not want responsibility for Gaza, the authorities have stressed that Israel should be held accountable, while reaffirming their support for a two-state solution. At a stormy and sometimes defensive news conference in Cairo on Sunday, officials asked why so much attention focused on the one border crossing from Egypt, when there were six crossings from Israel. “What about the other six crossings?” said Ismail Khairat, the newly appointed head of the State Information Service, without a hint of irony. Jordanians, too, are anxious. “It is a real concern in Jordan,” said Adnan Abu Odeh, who was an adviser to King Hussein.

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While the prospect of having to absorb the West Bank may be remote, Jordan does not want to have to do so, fearing it would destroy the fabric of society in the country, where about half the population is of Palestinian origin. “This kind of formula means a Palestinian loss of their land and a Jordanian loss of their identity,” Mr. Odeh said. The fight has accelerated a region wide battle for influence among Muslim states that was heating up even before the Israeli military attacked Gaza in response to rocket fire from Hamas. The greatest enmity has developed between Iran and Egypt, though just a few months ago it appeared the two were moving toward normalizing diplomatic relations, which had been downgraded when Iran named a street after Anwar el-Sadat’s assassin. “The horrible crime of the Zionist regime in Gaza has once again revealed the bloodthirsty face of this regime from disguise,” Iran’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said late last month. Then, singling out Jordan and Egypt, he said, “But worse than this catastrophe is the encouraging silence of some Arab countries which claim to be Muslim.” At the moment, it appears that Iran and its allies have the upper hand, at least in terms of public relations — a turn that seems to have shocked the Egyptians and rattled the authoritarian state’s sense of control. Mohamed Bassiouny, a former Egyptian ambassador to Israel who is now a member of Parliament, was nearly shouting Sunday as he tried to champion Egypt’s cause. “The problem is there is a conflict of wills between two groups,” he said. “One group headed by Egypt, this group is pushing for peace and tranquillity and stability, and there is another group headed by Iran pushing for escalating the situation and stopping all kinds of efforts for tranquillity.” Egypt has struggled to assert its role as the traditional diplomatic center of the Arab world, with some self-promotional fanfare and little results. It engaged the formal international system of diplomacy to resurrect the peace process. But its opponents have refused to grant political legitimacy to a process they see as biased against them. Egypt has been fading as a center of regional influence for years, weighed down by poverty, enormous population growth and political stagnation. Even though the mood on the street has changed, its leaders have held tight to the notion that abiding by the 1978 Camp David accord to normalize relations with Israel and pursuing a two-state solution were in Egypt’s best interests. The fighting in Gaza exposed the fragility of that approach, and the frantic tone of the Sunday afternoon news conference suggested that the government had not yet figured out how to respond.

'Soon we'll have nowhere left to run. Nowhere in Gaza is safe' Our correspondent and pregnant wife forced to flee Israeli onslaught By Fares Akram in Gaza city – The Independent Monday, 12 January 2009 We've left our home. Like 60,000 other Gazans, we've taken our belongings and fled. Once again, we've become displaced people. Soon, there will be nowhere to run to, since nowhere in Gaza is safe. In the early hours of Saturday, the bombing got louder and closer to our home, and the rattle of machine-gun fire became more intense. The tanks were not far off. As I lay in the dark, I heard the sound of small-arms fire and voices in the street outside. Since the Israeli offensive began, our city streets have been deserted during the hours of darkness; even the dogs that usually annoy us with their all-night barking have vanished. The voices were Palestinian militants: "Stay close to the wall!" "Go by the wall!", I could hear them shouting to each other. I didn't dare go to the window, fearing snipers, but tried listening to the radio. The FM stations run by Palestinian factions had no information, just talk about the "heroic actions" of their militants. My thoughts went to my wife, Alaa, so, at dawn, I phoned her. Alaa is nine months pregnant and we evacuated her last week to her parents' place in the western part of the city. As I expected, she was in a state of panic. At 6am, I looked out of the window. The entire neighbourhood was leaving. From a residential complex to the west, they were all leaving, carrying bags, mattresses, blankets, personal belongings. Cars were stuffed full of luggage, and everyone was rushing because the sound of bombing enveloped us.

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I used to say we would never leave our home, but when you see everyone else on the move, how can you stay? Barely a week since my father was killed by an Israeli air strike on our small northern Gaza farm as the ground invasion began, we were facing another terrible dilemma. I thought of the Samouni family, killed last week while sheltering in a house together, and decided we had to go. I took Alaa's jewellery, my laptop and phone, my notes and papers, and some clothes. My mother, sisters and their children drove away to take shelter at my sister's house. I walked with the people in the street. Leaving your home like this is pitiful; you feel almost ashamed. But there's no mercy with the Israelis in this operation. Previously, they weren't so harsh on civilians. But now, although they say they target Hamas, it seems they target anyone. I am now at Alaa's parents' house. Here, there are 100 people in a building usually occupied by 20. The whole district is overcrowded as most of those who fled other parts of Gaza have come here. But late on Saturday afternoon, the flyers warning of an escalation started landing along with the bombs. "To the residents of the Gaza Strip," the leaflets read. "The IDF will escalate its operations in the imminent period against the tunnels, military warehouses and terrorist elements all over the Gaza Strip. For your safety and the safety of your family you are required not to remain near terrorist elements, the storage of military means, or close to sites from where terrorist operations are launched." Well, we fled our home because of the militants – or terrorists, as the Israelis call them – but now they were dropping the flyers here too. Gaza is a small place and the Israelis have shut the borders, so we can't escape. Are they simply trying to terrify us further? In the midst of the chaos, I managed to get Alaa to see a nurse, and then to the hospital yesterday. The nurse said Alaa is going into the early stages of labour. Her blood pressure is slightly up, and she's dizzy. At the hospital, the doctor said they may induce her labour on Wednesday. For a few moments, amid the newborn babies in the maternity ward, Alaa forgot our predicament and looked joyful. Before sunset last night, the Israeli forces dropped more leaflets urging people to phone them with information about rocket sites. I hear they are also talking about the endgame. And we, the Palestinians, shouldn't lie to ourselves: they have achieved some of their goals. There are fewer rockets being fired across the border into Israel, and we've heard that six Hamas leaders have fled to Egypt by tunnel. But what they have achieved has been at the expense of the Palestinian civilians. Hundreds of children have been killed or injured. They have seen their parents terrified and powerless to protect them. In the future, who will they turn to for protection? Even if the warplanes are gone by the time our baby arrives later this week, what Israel has done in the past two weeks will keep the flames of this conflict alive for generations to come.

VOICE OF PALESTINE______STRINGER`s Gaza: 41 citizens were killed during the ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza strip since last night. Among the martyrs is journalist, Jalal Nashwan, 51 years old, who worked as producer in the programs section of the Palestinian TV. Death toll of the Israeli aggression since 16 days has consequently climbed to 891 martyrs and about 4080 injuries. Eyewitnesses reported that a special Israeli military force executed Nashwan with cold blood by shooting him all over the body north of Gaza strip. By Nashwan martyrdom, death toll of journalists since the beginning of the Israeli aggression in Gaza strip has risen to five journalists. Last night, violent clashes erupted between resistance fighters and the Israeli occupation forces at a-Zaytoun quarter east of Gaza city and east of Jabalia. Meanwhile, 40 injuries were transferred via Rafah crossing to Egypt yesterday. The Egyptian authorities have also allowed a group of 15 Arab physicians to enter into Gaza strip. Among those physicians is Dr. Najeeb Ramzi, a Belgium physician from a Moroccan origin, and he carried with him 100 thousands Euro as an assistance from the Moroccan community in Belgium. Near Gaza-Egypt borders, three Egyptian policemen and two Egyptian children were injured by shrapnel of Israeli missiles that were shelled on Gaza strip. Dozens of Egyptian houses were also damaged.

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INTERVIEWS:

**E`riakt: Abu Mazen will return today to the homeland to hold a meeting with all Palestinian factions** Saeb E`rikat: Head of the PLO Negotiation Affairs Department. Q: What are the most prominent outcomes of the meeting that was held yesterday between President Abu Mazen and the Jordanian king? The talks concentrated on the means to halt the aggression against the Palestinians in Gaza strip and how to implement the UNSC resolution 1860 as well as turning the Egyptian initiative to a mechanism of implementation of this resolution. The situation in Gaza strip is seriously dire and it is in constant deterioration. Therefore, Abu Mazen focused in his talks with king Abdullah on how to halt the aggression while leaving all other affairs for discussion later on. Achieving the Palestinian reconciliation is inevitable and this can be followed by agreements on all affairs including the crossings and the calm. Regretfully, all signals indicate that Israel is not intending to move towards a cease-fire unless after facing pressures from the side of the USA. The president requested from king Abdullah to invest his strong ties with EU countries, the USA and Russia on this regard. His majesty said that he has been exerting the utmost efforts and will continue seeking a halt of the aggression. Q: Do you confirm the news about Abu Mazen returning to the homeland today to meet with representatives of all Palestinian factions in Ramallah? Yes, the president will return to the homeland today. Since the first day of the Israeli aggression, he sent invitations to all Palestinians factions, including “Hamas” and the “Islamic Jihad”, to participate in the meeting of the leadership. Q: Regarding the deployment of international observers in Gaza, Israel has opposed this suggestion under the claim they would be incapable of blocking weapons smuggling into Gaza strip. Yes, this is an Israeli historical attitude that opposes the notion of the provision of international protection to the Palestinian people. President Abbas has called on activating Geneva Fourth Convention of 1949 according to which civilians have the right for protection during wartime and under occupation. Israel is only interested in international presence at Philadiephi and Rafah crossing.

**Unofficial statistics: death toll due to the ongoing Israeli aggression climbed to 888 in addition to over 4000 injuries ** Dr. A`yed Yaghi: The Palestinian Medical Relief. Q: What is the official statistic of martyrs and injuries? It is still hard talking about an official statistic of martyrs and injuries. I can only inform you that the number of martyrs exceeds 880. 30% of the toll martyrs are children and 7.2% are women. As for the number of injuries, it has exceeded 4080. The children constitute 35% of the toll injuries while women constitute 14%. Among the death toll, 12 were paramedics and 3 were journalists.

**Medial reports in Gaza: Israel uses internationally prohibited weapons against the civilians** Fathi al-Mughli: Minister of Health. Q: Do you confirm the new about the Israeli army using internationally prohibited weapons in its aggression in Gaza strip? We received confirmed information from our medical staffs in Gaza about witnessing medical cases whereby the specific used weapons are not yet known. White phosphor has been possibly used against civilians whose bodies were severely burnt. These kinds of burns are extremely severe to the extent of reaching the bones of a human body. Obviously, the Israeli forces have been also using wise bombs that cause multiple damages.

** ICRC spokesperson denies press reports about the ICRC deciding to halt accompanying paramedics in Gaza strip** Dr. Iyad Naser: Spokesperson of the ICRC.

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Q: Press reports say that the ICRC staffs will no longer accompany paramedics. Do you confirm these reports? The ICRC has truly experienced numerous harassments especially with regard to requests of security coordination of the move of ambulances. The responses to our requests have been very late in addition to the warning shooting towards our staffs. Still, the press reports are untrue. The ICRC cannot give up on the civilians especially the victims. On the other hand, the ICRC will deal with each request of coordination separately while taking into account the field circumstances and the target location. This is a kind of security measure to ensure the safety of the paramedics not just the ICRC staffs. Q: What has the ICRC do by now to handle the issue of the fate of the Gazan detainees by the Israeli forces? The ICRC staffs move in a very tight range inside Gaza strip due to lack of security and safety. Our first priority in the meantime is to save the life of injuries, besieges people and those stuck underneath debris. As for the detained people, the ICRC maintains contacts through its offices located in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with the Israeli authorities seeking to get information about their fate. Q: How will the ICRC deal with the issue of Israel using internationally prohibited weapons against civilians in Gaza strip? The ICRC employees with their limited capacity in the region are incapable of defining the kind of weapons used by Israel. This issue requires the availability of experts and special laboratories. Observations and documentation of various medical cases by the medical staffs are highly significant. Still, the final conclusions need to be set by experts.

**The Water Authority and the World Bank warn of a possible disaster in Gaza strip due to the destruction of water and wastewater nets by the Israeli shelling** Shaddad al-A`teili: Head of the Palestinian Water Authority. Q: What is the content of the reports that you have received from Gaza strip on the conditions of water and wastewater nets? The situation is in constant deterioration in the Gaza strip regarding water and wastewater. The precise statistics on damages, especially those caused to infrastructures, are not yet available. Because of the lack of safe corridors, technicians are incapable of going to the locations of the damaged infrastructures to repair them or to assess the extent of the damages. Two days ago, the west part of the wastewater treatment plant in Gaza was damaged and that resulted in wastewater floods. In addition, at Bet Lahyia area, two containers that belong to the Water Authority were completely destroyed due to Israeli shelling. I shall warn of the occurrence of possible disaster in case the random basins and the dirt mounds collapse there. The flood of about 4 millions cubes of wastewater will result, according to an assessment by the World Bank, in the killing of thousands of people in Gaza strip. Speaking specifically about the availability of water for human drinking, about one million people are disconnected from water nets. Coastal Municipal Water Authority is capable of ensuring water pump only for 4 hours a week. In addition, we warn of the wastewater mixing with the drink water something that would result in the spread of epidemics. Q: In spite of the numerous difficulties, have you managed to find a temporal solution to the crisis through coordination with your staffs in Gaza strip? We maintain constant coordination with the staffs in Gaza and we have there a crisis cell in cooperation with international organizations like the UNRWA the UNICEF, the ICRC and the Palestinian Red Crescent. This crisis cell is working on providing an access to the required equipments. The UNRWA for instance manages sometimes to deliver water containers; however, a secure movement for the technicians is still not ensured. OPINIONS______INTERVIEW WITH FORMER FATAH SECURITY CHIEF Hamas's 'Sole Strategy is Destruction and Chaos'

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Mohammed Dahlan, 47, is the former head of security for Fatah in the Gaza Strip. In a SPIEGEL interview, he discusses the Israeli war against Hamas and why he believes the Islamist organization will lose the next election. Amit Shabi / Laif Mohammed Dahlan: "I am happy about the coup against Hamas." SPIEGEL: Mr. Dahlan, your Fatah movement was driven out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas one and a half years ago. Are you pleased that Israel is now waging war against your rival? Dahlan: No, because it is not the Hamas leaders who are suffering as a result of the attacks. They are sitting safely in their bunkers and watching as people outside are dying. And once again, it is the Palestinian people who are paying the price. They've been the pawn of different interests -- primarily the Israelis -- since 1967. In the 1980s, Israel put Fatah people like me in jail and supported Hamas. What is happening in Gaza today is a consequence of this policy. SPIEGEL: Does Hamas share responsibility for the Israeli air strikes? Dahlan: With their rockets, they gave Israel a pretext for the war. Hamas is one of the worst organizations in the region. People are afraid of the Islamists and no one in Gaza dares to express criticism. Otherwise they face imprisonment or even death. Just like Israel, Hamas shows no consideration for ordinary people -- its fighters fire rockets right from the heart of residential areas. SPIEGEL: Do you think the populace will revolt against Hamas? Dahlan: It's not that simple. Didn't the Americans too think the Iraqis would welcome them with flowers? The Palestinians will only begin to hate Hamas when Israel offers us a genuine peace and Hamas attempts to block this opportunity. SPIEGEL: But Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are still negotiating with each other. Dahlen: These talks are meaningless. The Israelis are just stalling us with meetings, conferences and so-called peace processes. By doing so, they're just playing into Hamas' hands. SPIEGEL: Your Fatah movement has made its own share of mistakes. Dahlen: Yes, we still haven't learned from our election defeat. The election of a new leadership is long overdue. SPIEGEL: Rumors are circulating that the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and the Israeli government came to an agreement on the air strikes. Dahlan: Those are conspiracy theories. These attacks are helping neither Mahmoud Abbas nor Fatah. SPIEGEL: How realistic is the Israeli goal of destroying Hamas? Dahlan: In reality, they don't actually want that. Israel needs Hamas in order to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. The motive behind the offensive is to achieve better conditions for the next cease-fire. SPIEGEL: But doesn't the war offer Fatah a new opportunity to assume power in Gaza again? Dahlan: We will only return to Gaza after we have won an election -- not through military force. If you ask me personally, though, I am happy about the coup against Hamas. SPIEGEL: What do you mean? Dahlan: The Palestinians have now realized that Hamas is not capable of governing. Their leaders were celebrated as resistance fighters and for fighting corruption, but since their election they have lost all legitimacy. Their sole strategy is destruction and chaos. Hamas has lost its appeal -- and it will lose the next election. Interview conducted by Juliane von Mittelstaedt and Christoph Schult. Translated from the German by Daryl Lindsey. ARAB PRESS______

Jordan Jordan Times If intent serious Circles close to US president-elect Barack Obama suggest he has let it be known that he could be amenable to talking to Hamas in a bid to end the conflict in Gaza.

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Obama, however, will assume office on January 20, and by then many things can still happen in Gaza. Most probably Hamas will be a wounded faction and not particularly receptive to peace overtures from Washington. The fact that the White House and the US Congress have openly sided with Israel in its war of aggression might make any contact between the upcoming US administration and the Palestinians in Gaza difficult. One thing could change that, and that is Obama moving fast to alter the US stance. The recent US decision to ship additional ammunition and weapons to Israel so that it may continue its onslaught on the Palestinians, in defiance of the recent UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1860, makes a farce of the US as an impartial mediator. If Obama is serious about opening a new page with the Palestinians and engaging Hamas in talks to promote peace, as it should be, he should declare this intention without delay, and not wait for the next ten days, till he assumes power. Time is of the essence, and every day of fighting means more innocent casualties. The president-elect can play a role now by voicing concern and anxiety about the Israeli defiance of the UNSC. Obama can use his clout to stop the raging violence in Gaza immediately. He can make known his position on the continuing Israeli offensive to all parties. This is the time for stern pronouncements from the new US president. He can influence the events in Gaza and, hopefully, put an immediate end to the carnage there. All he needs to do is declare his unequivocal support for Resolution 1860 and declare his intention to have it implemented. That should send a clear message and restore his country’s credibility.

War on Hamas? Nermeen Murad Many commentators have referred to the events in Gaza as a “war on Hamas”. These three words are completely misleading in their depiction of the situation. For one, what is happening in Gaza cannot be described as a “war”. In fact, the minimum that the use of the word “war” implies is that it is a battle between the armies of two states, and we all know this is not the case. Second, this headline also implies that this is a war against an “Islamic military” movement, which appears not only to suit the recruitment policies of Hamas but very nicely fits in with the premise upon which Israel has gained Western support for this illegal war. A war against Islamist “loonies and fanatics” after all, has been the driving argument behind the US-led war in Iraq, and Washington is not likely to act in any way that would highlight the problems with this argument now that Israel is using it to sanction its own massacre of the Palestinian people. The vote earlier this week in both US Senate and Congress is proof that allowing this attack on civilians to be misconstrued as an actual war against militant fanatics would backfire against us first and foremost. The US Senate unanimously approved a bipartisan resolution on November 8 voicing strong support for Israel’s Gaza offensive, while urging a ceasefire that would prevent Hamas from launching any more rockets into Israel. The House followed up the next day with a similar resolution, expressing “unwavering” support for Israel’s right to “self-defence” against “unceasing aggression” by Hamas. The least that should be underlined, at least on the Arab side, is that the attack launched by Israel against the residents of Gaza is an attack on the Palestinian people, the Palestinian nation, the dream of a Palestinian state, the Palestinian institutions, the Palestinian infrastructure, the Palestinian future. To reduce this campaign of terror into a battle to uproot a military resistance movement is a denial of the facts on the ground. Israel is attacking the Palestinians’ right to a state of their own, the Palestinian people’s right to live in peace, their right to self-determination, to see their children study, play and grow up, and not dead or wounded or reduced to a state of debilitating fear. Israel would like us to believe that this is an attack on Hamas and sadly Hamas is encouraging the Muslim and Arab worlds to chant against what they also tell us is an attack on their movement, but following this line of argument, we must remember, can only serve the interests of Israel and feed into the excuses it uses for its public relations promotion of this campaign of terror.

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We absolutely must recognise and insist that the people who have taken to the streets all over the world, whether Muslims or otherwise, are not marching in support of Hamas, nor are they providing a cover for negotiations between Egypt and Fateh to serve their narrow political goals: they are fighting for the rights of the Palestinian people and voicing their anger at the barbaric and inhumane obliteration of any semblance of normal life in the ghetto that Israel has created in Gaza. Human beings cannot be reduced to puppets that can be manipulated to serve the expansionist interests of a brutal state like Israel, or the politically bankrupt campaign of Hamas, or the ineffective yet power- hungry Palestinian authority or even Arab leaders who fail to find the strength within them to speak out in support of fellow Arab citizens. The people marching across the streets of cities in the Arab, Muslim, Christian, European, African and American states are marching for global humanity and equality, and they are united in their rejection of indiscriminate killing of innocent citizens under the heading of collateral damage and security priorities. They are marching to end all terror and especially the terror created by states that flex their military muscles against helpless civilians who have no way of escaping their daily regime of terror except to cower into corners of houses that are being pounded relentlessly by the latest military technology. We must remember the faces of the people we see being rushed into hospitals or swathed in white sheets. These are not the faces of a military movement, these are the faces of the Palestinian people, their children, their women and their men, and we must never forget it.

Saudi Arabia Arab News Only Israel can blame the victims Iman Kurdi | Arab News — As I sat watching in horror the televised scenes of carnage from Gaza, and noted that this time the Israelis had hit a school with a UN flag, I wondered at the consequences. How would the Israelis respond, how would they excuse the inexcusable in the eyes of the international community? I predicted three responses, all of which have sadly turned out to be true. The first is that they would ensure news of the carnage be quickly replaced by headlines about a truce. And sure enough they did. They gave the Gazans a three-hour respite for one day and briefly let fly the idea that they had agreed to the principles of a cease-fire. Western newspapers and TV channels quickly reported the stories, pushing reactions to the latest atrocity to the sidelines. It also neutralized condemnations which finally started to come from the international community. President-elect Barack Obama finally broke his silence, for after the school bombing he could not possibly get away with not saying something about how concerned he was by the loss of civilian life. Of course, it was hardly a withering condemnation. Far from it. But those who for some reason expect Obama to take a pro-Palestinian stance must know something about him that I don’t. Nothing he has said so far suggests him to be less of a friend of Israel than his predecessors. The question one must ask about a US president is not does he support Israel but how many Arabs will he allow Israel to kill before saying enough. Now that the death toll has exceeded 800 and the injured approach 3,000, the word enough is beginning to be whispered in international circles. But only whispered, we are still far from an all-out call for a cease-fire. We are still in that gray area of “concern.” In other words, world leaders remain content to wait and see. To be fair, some are energetically seeking a cease-fire, witness French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s commendable attempts to broker one. The reality, however, is that the cease-fire will only be negotiated when Israel has achieved its military objectives and when the US steps in and formally says, enough. The only bet you could fairly safely lay your money on is, bar a regional escalation of the conflict, this will happen before Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The second response I expected is that the Israelis would blame the victims. And sure enough they did. Apparently they bombed the school because Hamas fighters were hiding there or were even firing rockets from the grounds of the school. The fact is that there is no evidence to support this. Independent sources have verified the nonexistence of Hamas fighters in the bombed school. This has, however, not stopped some commentators and journalists from reporting it as fact.

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Which brings me to the third response I expected as I watched the carnage. I thought just wait for it, in the next couple of days we will see some highly articulate and well-written columns and opinion pieces in defense of Israel which will first, press the guilt button about the Holocaust, second, claim that the Israelis offered the Palestinians peace but the Palestinians turned it down and third, that the Gazans brought it onto themselves when they elected Hamas. And for good measure, they might add a dose of fear about a nuclear-armed Iran. Sure enough, this came true. Pick up British newspapers and there are several shining examples of such Israeli-backed propaganda. What sickens me the most though is that not only do they blame the victims, but some of them are perverse enough to say that they “weep” for those who have been killed in Gaza. They “weep” for the children and innocent civilians who have been killed, bombed, burned, and orphaned and then go on to say that they deserved it, it was their fault. Is there anything more base than those who blame the victims and yet claim to have a heart that weeps for the dead?

Gaza: An unnecessary war Jimmy Carter | The Washington Post — I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided. After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years), the town was traumatized by the unpredictable explosions. About 3,000 residents had moved to other communities, and the streets, playgrounds and shopping centers were almost empty. Mayor Eli Moyal assembled a group of citizens in his office to meet us and complained that the government of Israel was not stopping the rockets, either through diplomacy or military action. Knowing that we would soon be seeing Hamas leaders from Gaza and also in Damascus, we promised to assess prospects for a cease-fire. From Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who was negotiating between the Israelis and Hamas, we learned that there was a fundamental difference between the two sides. Hamas wanted a comprehensive cease-fire in both the West Bank and Gaza, and the Israelis refused to discuss anything other than Gaza. We knew that the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza were being starved, as the UN special rapporteur on the right to food had found that acute malnutrition in Gaza was on the same scale as in the poorest nations in the southern Sahara, with more than half of all Palestinian families eating only one meal a day. Palestinian leaders from Gaza were noncommittal on all issues, claiming that rockets were the only way to respond to their imprisonment and to dramatize their humanitarian plight. The top Hamas leaders in Damascus, however, agreed to consider a cease-fire in Gaza only, provided Israel would not attack Gaza and would permit normal humanitarian supplies to be delivered to Palestinian citizens. After extended discussions with those from Gaza, these Hamas leaders also agreed to accept any peace agreement that might be negotiated between the Israelis and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who also heads the PLO, provided it was approved by a majority vote of Palestinians in a referendum or by an elected unity government. Since we were only observers, and not negotiators, we relayed this information to the Egyptians, and they pursued the cease-fire proposal. After about a month, the Egyptians and Hamas informed us that all military action by both sides and all rocket firing would stop on June 19, for a period of six months, and that humanitarian supplies would be restored to the normal level that had existed before Israel’s withdrawal in 2005 (about 700 trucks daily). We were unable to confirm this in Jerusalem because of Israel’s unwillingness to admit to any negotiations with Hamas, but rocket firing was soon stopped and there was an increase in supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel. Yet the increase was to an average of about 20 percent of normal levels. And this fragile truce was partially broken on Nov. 4, when Israel launched an attack in Gaza to destroy a defensive tunnel being dug by Hamas inside the wall that encloses Gaza. On another visit to Syria in mid-December, I made an effort for the impending six-month deadline to be extended. It was clear that the pre-eminent issue was opening the crossings into Gaza. Representatives

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from the Carter Center visited Jerusalem, met with Israeli officials and asked if this was possible in exchange for a cessation of rocket fire. The Israeli government informally proposed that 15 percent of normal supplies might be possible if Hamas first stopped all rocket fire for 48 hours. This was unacceptable to Hamas, and hostilities erupted. After 12 days of “combat,” the Israeli Defense Forces reported that more than 1,000 targets were shelled or bombed. During that time, Israel rejected international efforts to obtain a cease-fire, with full support from Washington. Seventeen mosques, the American International School, many private homes and much of the basic infrastructure of the small but heavily populated area have been destroyed. This includes the systems that provide water, electricity and sanitation. Heavy civilian casualties are being reported by courageous medical volunteers from many nations, as the fortunate ones operate on the wounded by light from diesel-powered generators. The hope is that when further hostilities are no longer productive, Israel, Hamas and the United States will accept another cease-fire, at which time the rockets will again stop and an adequate level of humanitarian supplies will be permitted to the surviving Palestinians, with the publicized agreement monitored by the international community. The next possible step: A permanent and comprehensive peace. Jimmy Carter was US president from 1977 to 1981. He founded the Carter Center, a nongovernmental organization advancing peace and health worldwide, in 1982.

Egypt Middle East Times Jordan under Pressure as Israel Presses on in Gaza ABDULLAH OMAR AMMAN -- Jordan has been equally strident in its condemnation of Israel's attack on Gaza on the popular and official levels. In a country where more than 60 percent of the population is of Palestinian origin, and home to the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, it was inevitable to hear voices opposing the 1994 Wadi Araba peace treaty with Israel get louder by the day, as more civilians died in Gaza. The Islamist-led opposition, green-lighted by the authorities to protest, have been venting their anger at the continued attacks since they started on Dec. 27. A flurry of protests swept the kingdom from its southern city of Aqaba upwards to the tribal-dominated city of Karak, to Maan, Amman and the crowded refugee camps. Under the leadership of the Islamist movement, all crowds repeat the same motto: "No to the Israeli embassy on Jordanian soil." Until recently, the Islamist movement was shunned by the authorities; ever since Washington declared an open war against all Islamist movements and labelled them as terrorist groups, including Hamas. The Islamist group in Jordan witnessed three years of relentless hostility from the authorities, including its orchestrated failure in the parliament and in municipal elections more than two years ago. But the six-decade-old movement, and its political arm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), have seen a revival of power in the past few months since the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorated. Authorities in Amman opened lines of dialogue with the movement to strengthen the internal front following the worsening of economic conditions and growing frustration among the general public and even the political elite over lack of progress in the peace process, according to analyst Mohammed Abu Ruman – a Jordanian expert on the Islamic movement. Ever since attacks on Gaza started, Amman, concerned by popular frustration over its inability to influence the war, turned to the Islamist movement to lead public protests against the war, again to absorb public anger, on the condition that protests remained benign. The group, according to analysts, has honored its agreement with the authorities, aware of the window of opportunity it received to sell its political product through this situation. On Jan. 3, the IAF flexed its muscles during a massive rally in an Amman stadium that brought together nearly 60,000 supporters. In unison, the crowd repeatedly shouted, "No to the Israeli embassy in Amman."

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"The message is loud and clear; this is a public referendum that we do not want peace with Israel," says Zaki Bani Rsheid, secretary general of the IAF, on the sidelines of the rally. The Islamist movement continues to utilize all its political and financial capabilities to exert more pressure on the Jordanian authorities to react to popular calls for the severing of diplomatic relations with Israel. Burning the Israeli flag has become a familiar scene in the streets of the kingdom, along with the American flag and images of outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush, whom protesters believe gave Israel the go-ahead to unleash its sophisticated arsenal in Gaza. But some politicians believe the protest went a little too far when an MP pulled the white and blue flag of Israel from inside his shoes and burnt it inside the parliament, under the watchful eyes of Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi and his cabinet. Deputy Khalil Atiyah, known for his media gimmick of stamping on Israeli flags in his election campaigns, was assisted by a number of leftists and even pro-government MPs in setting the flag ablaze. The rest of the house cheered with joy as deputies delivered a letter calling for the cutting of ties with the Jewish state. Atiyah blasted Israel and its allies in Washington for the attack, describing Israel's action as a war crime. "I kept the flag of the so-called Zionist entity, the flag of pigs and monkeys' grandchildren in my cheap shoes, which is similar to the shoe that Muntazer al-Zaidi threw in the face of Bush. The shoe protested at the insult as I put the flag inside it," said Atiyah. Political salons in Amman believe Atiyah's action greatly upset Israel, leading to the dismissal of chief of the General Intelligence Department, Mohammed Dahabi, who is believed to have approved the move. As pressure mounted on authorities to end its ties with Israel, amid resistance from the latter to agree to a cease-fire, the Jordanian government felt it was compelled to react. Jordan's prime minister told lawmakers that the government was going to reconsider its ties with Israel, during a heated parliament session on Jan. 4. "The government is considering all the available options and procedures to evaluate the kingdom's ties with any country, particularly Israel, if they are necessary to serve the country's higher interests," the premier told lawmakers. Since then Amman has recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv but is not likely to ask the Israeli ambassador to leave. The pro-West government appeared to have threatened to end peace ties with Israel, but this threat is unlikely to materialize, say analysts. The kingdom, awarded an annual $500 million in military and economic assistance from Washington ever since it signed the peace treaty with Israel in 1994, considers its deal with Israel an irrevocable action, also for higher national interests. As far as Jordanian officials are concerned, the peace treaty means the kingdom is safe from what could be potential Israeli interest in Jordanian lands and protects the future generations. Moreover, officials in Amman insist their diplomatic relations with Israel are vital for Gazans at this delicate time as they have been able to send badly-needed humanitarian aid to the coastal enclave through the government-run charity organizations. All aid pouring in from around the Arab and Muslim worlds, and even from the West, passes through the kingdom before crossing King Hussein Bridge on Jordanian trucks to Israel. "The invaluable access of goods is a testimony to the importance of these relations," said a senior official, who preferred not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. But officials from the Islamist movement believe the price Israel would pay for ending diplomatic ties with Jordan is far greater than the benefits that Gazans receive.

Is Gaza a Statistic? MIDDLE EAST TIMES Where can the Gaza conflict, now entering its third week, lead to in the coming days and weeks? Is it reasonable to expect that a cease-fire can stop the violence and the dying? Is it also reasonable to hope that the cease-fire will lead to peace talks between Hamas and all those opposed to it? Will Israel ever accept to talk to Hamas?

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Will the U.S. Barack Obama administration have dialog with the group on the U.S. State Department terror list? It might not. The real danger is that no one really knows for certain which way the beast of war can turn now that it has been unleashed. Then there is also the danger that although Israel began this fight; or perhaps more accurate to say that Israel began the fight in retaliation against Hamas firing rockets into Israeli towns and cities; or still, Hamas fired rockets at Israel's population centers because it was blockading the Gaza Strip … because Hamas was smuggling weapons through tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt … well, in short, it's the question of the chicken or the egg. Which came first: Hamas attacking Israel or was it the other way around? Does it matter at this point? To the victims of this war perhaps not; the dead are just numbers now, a way for the living to keep track of a morbid inventory. And for historians to later compare one war to another. More morbidity. The dead have become a line item on an accountant's spreadsheet. Do they matter? If numbers mean anything, the figures are getting up there. More than 880 Palestinians killed since the fighting began around Christmas. Some 13 Israelis killed. Do these numbers mean anything? Soviet dictator Josef Stalin got it right when he said, "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." The death toll in Gaza may not be anywhere near the million deaths Stalin was referring to, but it is nevertheless a statistic. And an ugly one at that. Yesterday it was 600 deaths. Today it is 800. Tomorrow that number may well rise to 1,000, or more. During the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel, one estimate placed the number of casualties at around 17,825 Lebanese killed during the war. But again, those are just numbers. And who's counting?

Egypt Capitalizes on America's Shelved Mideast Reform Agenda DINA GUIRGUIS | DAANISH FARUQI CAIRO -- The U.S. George W. Bush administration made many mistakes in the Middle East, but one thing it got right was the declaration of a 'freedom agenda.' As Condoleezza Rice declared in Cairo in 2005, "For 60 years … the United States pursued stability at the expense of democracy in the region … and we achieved neither … now we are taking a different course … we are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people." This simple overdue speech crystallized a revival of political activism in Egypt, and talk of an "Arab spring" seemed to materialize concretely in the form of unprecedented multi-candidate presidential elections in Egypt. Democratic reform in Egypt seemed to be gaining serious momentum, as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak pledged to undertake measures to widen the space for political competition and embrace human rights. Nonetheless, when elections in Egypt and subsequently in Palestine and Iraq indicated the regional popularity of Islamist political parties, the United States decided that democratic reform was too risky a proposition, abandoning Arab democrats once more to autocratic regimes in the name of a myopic commitment to "stability." The Egyptian regime quickly capitalized on the shelving of Bush's freedom agenda by amplifying domestic repression to unprecedented levels. A brief overview of Egypt's human rights record this year alone reveals regression on several fronts. The so-called Emergency Law that suspends several basic constitutional protections was again extended in May 2008 for another two years, despite promises made by Mubarak during his 2005 presidential campaign to repeal it. New legislation designed to control the media was introduced as the Arab League, under the leadership of the Egyptian minister of media, promulgated a charter "regulating" TV, radio, and satellite media. This charter is now accompanied by a parallel Egyptian draft law expanding the regulation to electronic media, the substance of which is reminiscent of an Orwellian novel. Dozens of torture cases – several fatal - were documented this year, particularly for those arrested in the aftermath of the April 6 national strike and labor protest in the city of al-Mahalla.

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The picture on torture becomes even starker given that most torture cases go unreported, and that torturers largely go unpunished except in a few highly publicized cases, thanks largely to the courage of individual bloggers who put their lives on the line to expose these abuses. Security abuses are on the rise and the independent media, previously a watchdog on many abuses, is coming under increasing attack, manifested in draconian, politically motivated prosecutions of independent journalists. Constitutional amendments in 2005 and 2007, putatively aimed at widening the political space, have in effect consolidated the reality of the one-party system while threatening the independence of the judiciary. Meanwhile, viable opposition to Mubarak's rule continues to be sequestered. One only need look to the case of democracy advocate Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, whose activism earned him a lengthy prison stay from 2001-2002. In response to his August 2007 op-ed column in the Washington Post criticizing Egypt's unchecked repression, Ibrahim was sentenced on Aug. 2, 2008, in absentia, to two years hard labor for "harming Egypt's image abroad." Ibrahim has been in exile from Egypt ever since. Other grassroots democratic reformers in Egypt have suffered similar fates. Ayman Nour, founder of the liberal al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party was arrested roughly four years ago on dubious charges — immediately after contesting Mubarak for Egypt's presidency — and remains incarcerated, while continuing to be harassed in prison with no recourse. With Bush's demands for democracy in the Middle East now on the backburner, and on the eve of a new administration grappling with Bush's failed Iraq legacy, Mubarak no longer feels encumbered to feign attempts at any meaningful democratic reform. And Bush has remained complacent with this position: better to support a stable Arab dictator at peace with Israel than rattle the cages. In light of the ongoing debacle in Gaza, the possibility that this stale thinking will persist throughout the next administration is indeed troubling. Despite American diplomatic clout — a $1.7 billion aid package to Egypt that can be creatively leveraged to demand greater political freedoms — the Bush administration resorted to the status quo ante, further degrading the image of the U.S. abroad in the process. With Bush set to leave office, the United States has a unique chance to repair its tarnished image, and provide Egyptians with the support they need to undertake genuine democratic reform — a paramount prospect, given Egypt's regional trendsetting status. U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has a historic opportunity to redeem the United States from the shortcomings of the past eight years and restore its credibility in the Arab world. In Egypt, change is already occurring from within, with non-violent civil disobedience increasing daily, ultimately suggesting an untenable status quo. The Egyptian regime is losing credibility at home, but drawing legitimacy from the continued unequivocal support of the United States. Suffice it to say, the ball is now in our court. Dina Guirguis is Executive Director of the Washington-based Voices for a Democratic Egypt (VDE), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Egypt (www.democraticegypt.org). Daanish Faruqi, Egypt liaison for VDE, is a senior researcher, and editor, at the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo.

United Arab Emirates Gulf News Israel's war of deceit, lies and propaganda By Uri Avnery Nearly 70 years ago, in the course of the Second World War, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called "the Red Army" held the millions of the town's inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centres. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands. Some time before that, a similar crime was committed in England. The Churchill gang hid among the population of London, misusing the millions of citizens as a human shield. The Germans were compelled to send their Luftwaffe and reluctantly reduce the city to ruins. They called it the Blitz.

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This is the description that would now appear in the history books - if the Germans had won the war. Absurd? No more than the daily descriptions in Israeli media, which are being repeated ad nauseam: the Hamas "terrorists" use the inhabitants of Gaza as "hostages" and exploit the women and children as "human shields", they leave Israel no alternative but to carry out massive bombardments, in which, to Israel's deep sorrow, thousands of women, children and unarmed men are killed and injured. In this war, as in any modern war, propaganda plays a major role. Almost all the Western media initially repeated the official Israeli propaganda line. They almost entirely ignored the Palestinian side of the story, not to mention the daily demonstrations of the Israeli peace camp. The rationale of the Israeli government ("The state must defend its citizens against the Qassam rockets") has been accepted as the whole truth. The view from the other side, that the Qassams are a retaliation for the siege that starves the one and a half million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, was not mentioned at all. Only when the horrible scenes from Gaza started to appear on Western TV screens, did world public opinion gradually begin to change. War - every war - is the realm of lies. Whether called propaganda or psychological warfare, everybody accepts that it is right to lie for one's country. Anyone who speaks the truth runs the risk of being branded a traitor. The trouble is that propaganda is most convincing for the propagandist himself. And after you convince yourself that a lie is the truth and falsification reality, you can no longer make rational decisions. Falsification An example of this process surrounds the most shocking atrocity of this war so far: the shelling of the UN Fakhura school in Jabaliya refugee camp. Immediately after the incident became known throughout the world, the army "revealed" that Hamas fighters had been firing mortars from near the school entrance. As proof they released an aerial photo which indeed showed the school and the mortar. But within a short time the official army liar had to admit that the photo was more than a year old. In brief: a falsification. Later the official liar claimed that "our soldiers were shot at from inside the school". Barely a day passed before the army had to admit to UN personnel that that was a lie, too. Nobody had shot from inside the school, no Hamas fighters were inside the school, which was full of terrified refugees. But the admission made hardly any difference anymore. By that time, the Israeli public was completely convinced that "they shot from inside the school", and TV announcers stated this as a simple fact. So it went with the other atrocities. Every baby metamorphosed, in the act of dying, into a Hamas "terrorist". Every bombed mosque instantly became a Hamas base, every apartment building an arms cache, every school a terror command post, every civilian government building a "symbol of Hamas rule". Thus the Israeli army retained its purity as the "most moral army in the world". The truth is that the atrocities are a direct result of the war plan. This reflects the personality of Ehud Barak - a man whose way of thinking and actions are clear evidence of what is called "moral insanity", a sociopathic disorder. The real aim (apart from gaining seats in the coming elections) is to terminate the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In the imagination of the planners, Hamas is an invader which has gained control of a foreign country. The reality is, of course, entirely different. A top priority for the planners was the need to minimise casualties among the soldiers, knowing that the mood of a large part of the pro-war public would change if reports of such casualties came in. That is what happened in Lebanon Wars I and II. This consideration played an especially important role because the entire war is a part of the election campaign. The planners thought that they could stop the world from seeing these images by forcibly preventing press coverage. But in a modern war, such a sterile manufactured view cannot completely exclude all others - the cameras are inside the strip, in the middle of the hell, and cannot be controlled. Al Jazeera broadcasts the pictures around the clock and reaches every home. Hundreds of millions of Arabs from Mauritania to Iraq, more than a billion Muslims from Nigeria to Indonesia see the pictures and are horrified. This has a strong impact on the war. Many of the viewers see the rulers of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian National Authority as collaborators with Israel in carrying out these atrocities against their Palestinian brothers.

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If the war ends with Hamas still standing, bloodied but unvanquished, in face of the mighty Israeli military machine, it will look like a fantastic victory, a victory of mind over matter. What will be seared into the consciousness of the world will be the image of Israel as a blood-stained monster, ready at any moment to commit war crimes and not prepared to abide by any moral restraints. This will have severe consequences for our long-term future, our standing in the world, our chance of achieving peace and quiet. In the end, this war is a crime against Israelis too, a crime against the State of Israel. Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is a contributor to Counter Punch's book 'The Politics of Anti-Semitism'.

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