Featured this weekBoise State Brandeis Colorado State Duke Emory George Washington Georgetown Guilford College Haifa Hebrew Iowa State London - UK Maine Michigan Tech Minnesota Northern Illinois Northwestern Purdue Rutgers Technion York | Bush: "U.S. Would Defend Israel Against Iran"  The United States would come to Israel's defense if attacked by Iran said President George W. Bush Wednesday night. Bush went on to denounce Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying, "I am concerned about a person that, one, tries to rewrite the history of the Holocaust, and two, has made it clear that his intentions are to destroy Israel. Israel is a solid ally of the United States, we will rise to Israel's defense if need be," he added. Asked if he meant the United States would rise to Israel's defense militarily, Bush said: "You bet, we'll defend Israel." (Jerusalem Post)
Additional Headlines Israeli Troops, Jewish Settlers Clash Palestinian Rocket Hits Israeli Dwelling UN Opens to Israel on Holocaust Day | | Hamas Head: We Will Never Recognize the Legitimacy of a Zionist State
by Khaled Mashaal   Khaled Mashaal, the Damascus-based head of the political bureau of Hamas, wrote in the Guardian on Tuesday: "When the Palestinians went to the polls last Wednesday they were well aware of what was on offer and those who voted for Hamas knew what it stood for. We shall never recognize the legitimacy of a Zionist state created on our soil in order to atone for somebody else's sins or solve somebody else's problem. But if you are willing to accept the principle of a long-term truce, we are prepared to negotiate the terms." (Guardian-UK)
See also Hamas: We Will Not Give Up a Single Inch of Palestine (MEMRI)
Give Hamas Nothing for Free
by Dennis Ross  The Palestinians have now voted to remake the Palestinian Authority by electing Hamas, a group that rejects the very concept of peace with the Israelis - or even a negotiated divorce from the Israelis, which is what disengagement is really all about. Hamas will want to have it both ways: having relations with the greater world while preserving its fundamental doctrine of rejection of Israel and support for violence. Hamas must recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, reject violence and be obliged to stop all acts of terrorism. (Washington Post)
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Emory: Students Experience Israel Firsthand over Break
by Erika Rao  Five Emory students spent 10 days of their winter break in Israel on a program intended to give U.S. student leaders a deeper understanding of modern Israeli culture. The trip was organized by the national Hillel organization and was divided into different tracks to correspond with students' interests. Lesley Patterson, Amir Pelleg and Lauren Skiba went on the Advanced Advocacy track, which focused on Israeli policy and U.S.-Israeli relations. Joel Frankel went on the Business and Technology track, and Anita Schmidt, president of Hillel, went on a track about Jewish pluralism. (Emory Wheel)
Emory: Israeli Reality TV Show Winner Comes to Campus
by Allison Pennock  Eytan Swartz, an Israeli man who won an "Apprentice"-style European reality show came to Emory to talk about the "fun, human and young" side of his country. "We Israelis are obsessed with our image," Swartz said. "On many college campuses, being pro-Israel isn't cool. Three or four Palestinian students can turn campuses anti-Israel simply by confusing the truth of what is really happening there." (Emory Wheel)
| | Georgetown: Students React to Hamas
by Kent Elliott  The controversy emanating from Hamas' stunning victory over the long dominant Fatah party in Palestine's parliamentary election has stirred the charged campus discussion on the Middle East conflict. "A two-state solution is the only viable peaceful resolution and with Hamas in power it makes it difficult to negotiate," Greg Goldberg, president of Georgetown-Israel Alliance, said. "Hamas needs to renounce terror, lay down its arms, and recognize Israel's right to exist so peace talks can commence once more." (Georgetown Voice)
Guilford College: Students Say Hamas Could Become More Moderate
by Margaret Moffett Banks  On this point, all sides agreed: Palestinians should be proud they had a free election last month. But the result of that election, a victory for the militant Hamas party, was open to interpretation. About 75 students and faculty members gathered last week at Guilford College for a roundtable discussion on the recent Palestinian elections. Panelists included two rabbis and four Palestinian students from the West Bank town of Ramallah. (News-Record)
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Point-Counterpoint - Should Israel Proceed with Another Unilateral Disengagement after the Hamas Election Victory?
Olmert Says Israel Must Quit More Occupied Land
by Jonathan Saul - Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel had to give up parts of the occupied West Bank and quickly set a border with the Palestinians .
- "In order to ensure the existence of a Jewish national home, we will not be able to continue ruling over the territories in which the majority of the Palestinian population lives," he said on January 24.
- Hinting that Israel would act alone to set a border if talks failed, Olmert said he hoped Wednesday's Palestinian election would deliver a government ready to follow a U.S.-backed peace road map.
- "The most dramatic and important step we face is shaping the permanent borders of the state of Israel," Olmert said. "We would prefer an agreement. If our expected partners in the negotiations in the framework of the road map do not uphold their commitments, we will preserve the Israeli interest at all costs," Olmert said.
Can Israel's New Center Hold
by Yossi Klein Halevi - Within Kadima, the most outspoken opponent of unilateral withdrawal in the West Bank is Avi Dichter, the recently resigned head of the domestic security service Shin Bet.
- "You can't compare the West Bank to Gaza," Dichter explains. "There was no security need to remain in Gaza, except to protect the settlers. We weren't protecting the state from Gaza. But that's not at all the situation in the West Bank. Gaza is not close to major [Israeli] population centers; the opposite is true in the West Bank. If Hamas maintains its ties with Iran and continues terror, they will lose the West Bank. There's no chance we will allow the West Bank to become a kingdom of terror."
- The Israeli evacuation of four West Bank settlements last August evacuated settlers but kept the Israeli army in the area. Still, Dichter rejects even that model as a self-inflicted wound at a time when fighting terrorism, rather than encouraging Israeli infighting, should be the priority. "The only relevant criterion for determining evacuations should be security," he notes. (The New Republic)
Fruits of Disengagement
by Yaakov Amidror - We must admit that Israel itself contributed greatly to Hamas' electoral success by pulling out unilaterally from Gaza. Flight at a time of war and abdication of basic principles at a time when terror continued unabated brought tremendous success to those responsible.
- More than 80 percent of Palestinians believe Hamas and its terrorism forced Israel to withdraw from Gaza. What Israel's believe is "determination" is interpreted in Gaza as "weakness." (Ynet News)
| | The Wages of Unilateralism
by Moshe Arens - While many had given their unreserved approval to Sharon's unilateral withdrawal project, and others felt that the jury was still out regarding the wisdom of this move, history handed in its verdict last week - it was no more than a piece of foolishness. The Hamas victory, a blow to the chances for peace in the area, and an increased threat to Israel's security interests, is the direct result of that ill-conceived and misbegotten project.
- How did so many Israelis, a nation of intelligent and politically alert citizens, fall for this plan?
- Hubris. What is unilateralism if not hubris - arrogance and disregard of others. The proponents of disengagement proudly announce that we are going to take our destiny into our own hands, that we are not going to wait for partners for peace, that we are going to unilaterally determine Israel's borders, and that the Palestinians can stew in their juices behind the fences we are rushing to complete.
- The unilateral withdrawal experiment has failed, but those who carried out this experiment want a chance to continue experimenting with Israel's future. To have disregarded the Palestinian perception of an Israeli unilateral withdrawal and the subsequent effect on Palestinian behavior was unpardonable.
Israeli Defense Chief Calls for Second Disengagement
by Ofer Shelah - For Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, the possibility of a stalemate reinforces the need for a "second disengagement" — a withdrawal from broad swaths of territory in Judea and Samaria, leaving them to Palestinian control while the main settlements blocs remain under Israeli control, protected by the security fence. Such a border, he believes, would enable Israel to enjoy maximum security as it waits for a Palestinian partner to emerge.
- "We have to take our destiny into our own hands," he told the Forward. "Security-wise, things may be relatively quiet until the dust settles. But I doubt whether there will be someone to negotiate an agreement with in the near future."
- Sources close to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insist that he would prefer a negotiated agreement to unilateral moves. But he said last month that he would consider a second unilateral disengagement if talks are impossible. That now seems inevitable . (Forward)
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