I studied at a university in New York for two years before it dawned on me that when people said my remarks were "very interesting," it meant I was laying it on a little too thick. It took a while, but eventually it sank in.

Olmert passed the White House test with flying colors, no question about it. The famous chemistry seems to have been established. And why wouldn't it? Even before he flew off to Washington for this "get-acquainted meeting," as it was called, he gave an interview to The New York Times. "I wake up every morning and say to myself: 'Thank God for America, thank God for George W. Bush, thank God for Condi Rice, the most decent people I can talk with and take counsel with, and get advice and support from,' " he told Steven Erlanger.

Even the correspondent himself was a little uncomfortable with such fulsome praise. It's been so long since America's leaders have heard anything like it. Olmert's remarks were a little over the top, said Erlanger, a little too thick. It's a matter of taste, of course. Olmert must have figured that a bit of flattery never did anyone any harm.

"Condi" instead of "Condoleezza"? That's a way of marking territory with a familiar body odor. It wouldn't have taken much to turn Bush into "Bushy." Such slobbering hasn't been seen in these parts since we stopped licking stamps and envelopes. Happy is the man who gets up every the morning with such prayers of thanks to the good Lord. In the entire universe, I bet there are only handful who feel the way Olmert does.

Massacred Iraqi citizens are not thanking the Lord or praising Bush. American soldiers are not grateful to God and their president. Neither are their families. The genocide victims in Darfur don't wake up in the mornings sighing with happiness and contentment. The thanks of global terror victims, hoping to be rescued from the rising storm, have been cut off in mid-sentence. The torture victims of the CIA in dungeons around the world curse the day they were born and the person who darkened their lives. Those who have been poisoned by pollution and greenhouse emissions pour out their bitterness on the man who has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Refugees of the hurricane in New Orleans, who observe their city from afar and have yet to return, will never forget, or forgive, the damage inflicted by nature and the Bush administration.

Most importantly, 71 percent of American citizens do not share our prime minister's Israeli good cheer. They are sick and tired of their president, they don't trust his judgment and they don't have the same faith in his integrity and good sense that Olmert has. The Americans, the Europeans, the Africans, the denizens of the Middle East, the Russians, the Chinese - none of them want to be pals with this president. None of them want his jinxed blessing. Even the Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives are on guard, and keeping their distance as they campaign for election in November.

An interesting question is why Israeli leaders are the ones who feel so at home in the White House. It must be true what they say about birds of a feather flocking together.

On Tuesday, what began as a cross-border clash just after midnight rapidly evolved when the troops hunted down the militants - who the army said were preparing to fire a barrage of homemade rockets at Israeli towns.

Palestinian security officials said the fierce fighting between the militants and Israel's special forces, who were joined at one point by a naval diving unit, lasted about five hours, ending just before dawn. Israel's air force also sent helicopters to back the troops, raining missiles down on the militants.

Although the Palestinian rockets rarely kill anyone, they are a sore point for the army, which has failed in more than five years of fighting with the Palestinians to halt the fire. Since the withdrawal, army officials have repeatedly said that the only way to halt the fire is to re-enter Gaza, something Israel has been reluctant to do.

By Tuesday morning, the troops had left the coastal area, but the army warned it would "continue to act with determination and to employ all means at its disposal to combat terrorists and their infrastructure in order to defend the citizens of Israel."

Violence also erupted in the West Bank early Tuesday, with troops killing three militants in separate incidents in the Nablus area. Two of the militants were from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a group linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Party, and the third belonged to Islamic Jihad.

Islamic Jihad has refused to recognize a truce that has been in effect since February 2005. The group has been responsible for all eight suicide bombings in Israel since then. Israel has hunted down Islamic Jihad leaders in both Gaza and the West Bank, killing some and capturing others.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Abu Teir, a Hamas legislator who was told by Israel Monday that he either had to quit the Palestinian parliament or lose his Jerusalem residency, rejected the ultimatum, saying he planned to appeal to Israel's Supreme Court.

Israeli Interior Minister Ronnie Bar-On issued the ultimatum to four leading Hamas lawmakers from east Jerusalem, Khaled Abu Arafa, the minister of Jerusalem affairs, and lawmakers Abu Teir, Ahmed Abu Atoun and Mahmoud Totach.

"You will either resign or you won't be with us," Bar-On said in a Channel 2 TV interview. "The letters were delivered to them today, and they have 30 days to decide."

The four officials were summoned to accept the ultimatum notices at a Jerusalem police station. All refused to sign the letters and were released, police said.

"How can Israel call itself a democracy and do this?" Abu Teir asked in an interview with Israel Radio on Tuesday. "I am going to court."

Expelling Palestinians from Jerusalem for political reasons is unprecedented. It reflects the new situation caused by the Hamas victory in January parliamentary elections and its formation of a government in March.

Israel has declared the Hamas regime a "hostile entity" and is leading a drive to cut off all funding to the Palestinian Authority, which has led to widespread hardships. Israel, the United States and the European Union list Hama, which is officially sworn to Israel's destruction, as a terrorist organization.

Israel says that according to interim peace accords, the Palestinians are not allowed to conduct political activity in Jerusalem. Abu Teir and his fellow Jerusalem lawmakers have been repeatedly detained by Jerusalem police for political activity in the city.

Residents of east Jerusalem enjoy a wide range of social benefits including pension and health care. Israeli-issued identity cards grant them permanent residency in Jerusalem and freedom of movement throughout Israel.

The special arrangement is part of the conflict over Jerusalem. Israel captured the traditionally Arab sector in the 1967 war and annexed it a few weeks later. Israel offered citizenship to the Palestinians there, but few accepted. Instead, Israel gave the Jerusalem Palestinians blue resident cards almost identical to the ID cards issued to citizens.

Palestinian residents of Jerusalem can vote in municipal elections, but not in the national vote.

Palestinians claim the Arab sector of the city as the capital of the state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel originally threatened to strip the Hamas legislators of their Jerusalem identity cards in April after the Palestinians' Hamas-led government refused to denounce a suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv fast food restaurant that killed 11 civilians, including an American teenager, and wounded dozens.

The slain militants were identified as Tarek Zakaran from the Islamic Jihad (Holy War), Hani Saqqa and Osama Nemery from al-Aqssa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Fatah movement. Meanwhile, at least four Palestinians were killed and 16 others injured late Monday and early Tuesday as an Israeli elite undercover unit entered the northern Gaza Strip for the first time since Israeli pullout last September, Palestinian medics and security sources reported.

PalestineThree Islamic Jihad militants were killed in shootout with the Israeli troops in northern Gaza Strip on their way to launch homemade rockets at southern Israel, security sources said. Israeli soldiers also arrested deputy secretary-general of the Hamas-led cabinet Aziz Kayed from his Ramallah home. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also denounced the Israeli military escalation on Tuesday.

He told the local radio Voice of Palestine that "the dangerous escalation will only reinforce circle of violence, anarchy and bloodshed."

Al-Masri's remarks came one day after the Jordanian government announced that some Arab mediators were trying to mediate between Hamas and Jordan over the recent friction.

Last month, Jordan said that it discovered a big weapons cache in the kingdom and arrested more than 20 alleged Hamas activists, accusing them of planning attacks against Jordanian officials, a charge denied by Hamas.

Three of the arrested confessed on the state television that they were recruited by Hamas' leaders in Syria and sent to the kingdom to carry out attacks.

Jordan then put off a scheduled visit by al-Zahar.In a bid to ease the tensions, Jordan has asked Hamas to send a delegation to the kingdom for talks.

Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruction, took control of the Palestinian government in late March after winning the January Palestinian legislative polls by a landslide.