In April 2005, the British Association of University Teachers (AUT) decided to impose an academic boycott on Bar-Ilan and Haifa universities, but subsequently reversed the decision. The two lecturers organizations are slated to merge at the beginning of June.

Unlike the previous boycott, which targeted two specific institutions, the current motion relates to all lecturers and academic institutions in Israel. Now that the University of Haifa has threatened the AUT with a lawsuit, the NATFHE motion is more cautious: instead of recommending the lecturers union boycott Israeli institutions, it calls on the union to suggest its members carry out the boycott.

"The conference invites members to consider their own responsibility for ensuring equity and non-discrimination in contacts with Israeli educational institutions or individuals, and to consider the appropriateness of the boycott of those that do not publicly dissociate themselves from such policies," the NATFHE motion states. It also encourages lecturers to hold meetings on the issue on campus.

'Apartheid policies'

The motion explicitly says NATFHE will recognize Israeli policies, while at the same time denigrating them as "apartheid policies, including construction of the exclusion wall and discriminatory educational practices."

Ronnie Fraser, a NATFHE member who heads an organization called Academic Friends of Israel, said he didn't think any decisions made at the annual conference would have an immediate effect on the policies of the merged lecturers association, but his group called on NATFHE not to discuss the boycott altogether.

"Academic work should not be blocked on political grounds," wrote Fraser in the name of the organization. Discrimination "on the grounds of nationality is pernicious," he said, calling academic discourse "crucial in keeping channels open to build opportunities for peace."

In addition to the boycott motion, the annual conference will also discuss a motion condemning the "outrageous bias" of the British government in opposing Hamas' victory in the Palestinian elections and stating that NATFHE will "continue to help protect and support Palestinian colleges and universities in the face of the continual attack by Israel's government."

In the past decade, the only country whose academia NATFHE has considered boycotting is Israel.

Zvi Ziegler, a professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa who heads the Israeli Inter-Senate Committee of the Universities for the Protection of Academic Independence, said that if passed, the motion would provide justification for individuals to boycott Israeli academic institutions.

"The decision may not be binding, but it will be the union's recommendation to all its members," said Ziegler. "It provides legitimacy for people who want to boycott Israel."

Having learned their lesson last year, Israeli lecturers have already begun organizing meetings and conferences to speak out against academic boycotts.

The Inter-Senate Committee, which was established in 2001 with the original purpose of preventing a change in the structure of Israeli universities, had all Israeli universities pass resolutions condemning academic boycotts and calling on academic organizations abroad - including in Britain - to pass similar resolutions.

"We want to bring about a situation in which leading organizations say academic boycotts are improper," said Ziegler. "When they are faced with a leading academic body, organizations will hesitate to make a decision like this again."

Senior Hamas officials were not immediately available for comment.

The news comes a few days after a senior Israeli official reportedly met several Palestinian prisoners, among them Hamas legislators, in two jails.

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted a ministry official as saying Motti Zaken, an adviser on Arab affairs at the internal security ministry, met the men to "to assess their mood".

Occupied territory

The negotiations were held in Israel's Hadarim Prison, where Fatah leader Marwan al-Barghouti and Abdel Khaleq Natche of Hamas are serving their sentences.

The document calls for a Palestinian state "in all the lands occupied in 1967", a reference to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

Such an implied recognition of Israel would be a large policy change for Hamas, which remains committed to the destruction of the Jewish state.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, has said he is ready to withdraw from much of the West Bank to create an independent Palestinian state.

But he plans to keep large blocs of West Bank settlements and holy sites in east Jerusalem.

Israel withdrew from Gaza last year.

Mark Regev, the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said he was not familiar with the Palestinian talks and saw no need to comment on an internal Palestinian matter.

Continued resistance

The draft Hamas-Fatah deal does not renounce violence.

Hamas has largely observed a truce since February 2005, but has refused formally to renounce violence.

The document will authorise Abbas to lead negotiations with Israel, based on what is referred to as "Arab legitimacy", an apparent reference to an Arab peace initiative which calls for a two-state solution.

Any agreement will be put before the Palestinian parliament or submitted to a referendum of Palestinians everywhere.

Based on the programme, Fatah will join the Hamas government, the document said.

Tensions

Salah Bardawil, a Hamas legislator, said he had not seen the document, but that the views of the Hamas prisoners were considered important.

Tensions have been rising since Hamas defeated Fatah in legislative elections earlier this year.

Abbas, elected separately last year, has been in a power struggle with the Hamas-led government.

The rivalry erupted into violence between the sides in Gaza this week, killing three people and wounding a dozen others.

Hamas and Fatah are to hold talks in two weeks to try to settle their differences.

The American House of Representatives is studying what is called "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act HR4681" that would punish and isolate Palestinians by imposing draconian economic and diplomatic measures. The Act would increase Palestinian suffering by halting all US humanitarian assistance to them. It would severely restrict the work of Palestinian diplomats by denying them visas, restrict their movement at the UN, and shut down the PLO information office in Washington. It would designate Palestinian territory as a "terrorist sanctuary" and thus trigger restrictions on American trade with the territory that would further cripple Palestinian economy. The Act would also target UN organizations that support Palestinian human rights by withholding the American dues to the UN in proportion to the percentage of the UN budget that funds these organizations. It would deny Palestinian ability to receive assistance from international financial institutions such as the World Bank, who has been working with the PA to "rebuild" Gaza Strip after the Israeli unilateral withdrawal; the US would vote against such funds in the World Bank.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had toured Europe and the Arab World pressuring leaders to exert political pressure on, and to financially and economically boycott the Hamas-led PA unless it adheres to the American demands. Since it is politically easier for the international community to exert pressure on the weaker party (the Palestinians) rather than facing the world's strongest political bully those coward hypocritical leaders joined in pressuring the PA. Some like Canada have suspended aid to the PA, while others parroted the same American demands. The Arab leaders, on the other hand, called on the Hamas PA to adopt the Arab peace initiative (the Saudi initiative) that had been adopted by the Arab League in Beirut summit in 2002 and renewed during the late Khartoum summit.

With the full understanding that unpaid Palestinian Security Forces, the closure of humanitarian organizations, the closure of schools, and the collapse of Palestinian economy would create a very desperate nation, who would express its frustration through extreme violence since the people have nothing else to lose and nothing to fear for, EU leaders have been looking for ways to maneuver around the American pressure and to transfer their financial aid to Palestinians directly bypassing the PA. The EU sends about 500 million euros a year to the PA making it the largest donor. To pay PA's employees directly EU leaders proposed the creation of a World Bank fund, or using the Holst Fund, which was set up in 1994 after the signing of Oslo Accord and is managed by the World Bank. Although Hamas declared that it would consider these ideas, and President Abbas welcomed them, the Bush administration has blocked all these proposals. The administration, also, had come down hard on all Islamic American charities (such as KindHearts) blocking the transfer of their charity money to the Palestinians citing alleged links to Hamas, which the US considers a "terrorist" organization.

Fearing the anger of their own people Arab leaders renewed their commitment to fund Palestinians through contributions to Arab League, and others promised direct donations. All donated monies were converted from the American dollars to the euros in an attempt to avoid passing through Washington. The Jordanian Bank offered to transfer the money. Yet when the Jordanian government (probably under American pressure and directive) accused Hamas of stockpiling weapons in Jordan to hit Jordanian targets the bank withdrew its offer.

Israeli terror against Palestinians has intensified. Israel has halted the transfer of about $55 million a month in taxes it collects for the PA in an attempt to bankrupt its government. Its army had closed "El-Montar" trade crossing (Carney Crossing); the only passage Gaza has to the rest of the world. More army checkpoints were erected within cities, and people were not allowed to move between neighborhoods. Israeli offensive army had intensified its terrorist attacks against Palestinian cities; raiding homes, completely destroying their contents or demolishing the whole house, randomly arresting people, raiding mosques and churches stripping worshippers naked and harassing religious figures, and beating or shooting reporters and confiscating their cameras. The Israeli tanks continuously shell civilian communities in Gaza Strip killing children and women, while military drones continue their targeted assassinations of alleged militant leaders by bombing their vehicles. The Israeli government is grabbing more land to expand its colonies and is finishing its jailing wall on Palestinian land to besiege more Palestinian cities and to destroy their economy. The wall and military checkpoints had divided the West Bank into small 64 cantons. Palestinian prisoners including children (boys and girls in their teens) in Israeli prisons are routinely tortured and denied heath care. Many women prisoners gave birth to their babies in prison cells. Israel is still carrying its policies of graduated annihilation of the Palestinian people in its campaign to "preserve proven Jewish majority in the State of Israel" as Israeli president Olmert has put it this week. This Zionist racist ideology was clearly expressed by 62% of Israelis, who demand evacuating Palestinians to Jordan, according to the latest annual survey by the Israel Democracy Institute.

Within every nation there are traitors, who, for their own selfish interests, cooperate with the enemy against their own people. Palestinians are not the exception. A handful of corrupt Fatah leaders, who had hijacked the party, had been using their political positions to enrich and to empower themselves. They have secured effective control over large segments of Palestinian Security Forces. After loosing election to Hamas, those leaders refused to cede power, and are planning to impede Hamas government in order to replace it with a substitute government of their own. They are also afraid to be indicted for embezzling public money. Some of these corrupt leaders, like Jibril Rajoub, met with the American CIA and the Israeli Mossad at James Baker Center for Foreign Policies in Texas to put plans to overthrow the newly elected Palestinian government. In an attempt to completely bankrupt the Palestinian government those corrupt Fatah leaders had employed thirty thousand new government employees in the last two months, and then pushed them into the streets demanding their salaries. They have sent their militia forces to terrorize the people, to occupy government buildings, and to engage Hamas members into confrontations like what happened recently (Monday 5/8) in Gaza.

Hamas refuses to recognize and thus legitimize the right of the Israeli State to exist on occupied Palestinian land. Its leaders point to the on-going Israeli occupation of Palestine (since 1948) as the real threat to a peaceful Middle East, and that their struggle against such an occupation is their legitimate right that is acknowledged by all international laws. Israel, not Hamas, is the terrorist state spreading chaos and destruction throughout the Arab World. America's continuous unconditional economical, political, and military support to this terror state exposes the reality of the alleged American war on global terror used to invade other countries.

Hamas refuses to honor the previously signed Israeli/Fatah PA agreements for Israel had put many reservations against these agreements to nullify them, and has never honored any of them. So why should Hamas honor any of these agreements since they do not benefit Palestinians. Arafat and his PA had recognized Israel, renounced resistance and adopted peaceful negotiations, and had accepted the two states solution giving legitimacy to the Israeli occupation of 78% of Palestine. Israel rejected this peaceful approach and kept on insisting that there is no Palestinian partner for peace despite all the Palestinian efforts to negotiate.

As for the Arab Peace Initiative, Hamas explains that all Arab peace offers, that would have legitimized Israel and would have guaranteed its security, have been rebuffed by Israel. The latest Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 was met by Ariel Sharon with more military operations and destruction of the major Palestinian cities. Israel and the Bush administration are not interested in any peaceful solution. Perpetual wars, that feed the military industries, are their only goal.

This financial/economical siege could turn out to be the best thing that may happen to the Palestinians to force them to depend solely on themselves to develop their own natural resources and to turn back to the ready-to-help Arab and Muslim nations to free themselves from the Western financial yoke. Through their "noble" money donations the "alleged" Western donor countries invest their "conditioned" donations in the region to manipulate and to control its economy. Large portions of the donations go as bribes to the corrupt leaders and as payoffs to their "security militias" to enforce economical dependence. Hamas has taken the first step to free Palestinian economy; its leaders reverted to the Muslim and Arab nations for financial support.

Through rallies in major Palestinian cities, last Friday, Palestinians had expressed their support to their elected Hamas leaders. Many of them, though poor, had donated money to help the government. Women donated their jewelry, children donated whatever meager money they saved in their piggybanks, business men donated thousands of dollars, and many government employees expressed their refusal to use unpaid wages to pressure the government. Ismail Haniya, Hamas newly elected Palestinian Prime Minister, has donated part of his monthly salary to families, whose children were martyred or imprisoned, for the rest of his term. A nation with such spirit will never be defeated.

The Israeli/American financial siege is collapsing. EU is looking into alternate methods to send its donations, Russia and other Asian countries expressed willingness to help financially, many Arab leaders pledged money besides regular contributions through Arab League, Arab and Muslim populations all over the world are organizing donation campaigns to help the Palestinians, and demonstrations against the Palestinian starvation policies are being organized in major capitals of the world.

This crisis is Hamas' best opportunity to prove its resolve, its genuine loyalty to the people, its honest financial transparency, and its better management than the previous Fatah government.

The peace prize, which is awarded annually by the Niwano Peace Foundation honours individuals and organisations that have made major contributions to inter-faith understanding and cooperation.