Gaza calm as Israeli troops begin pullout

GAZA CITY: Gaza was enjoying a second night of calm on Monday as Israeli troops began withdrawing after their deadly 22-day onslaught in the Israel Gaza cease fire
battered territory was halted by a fragile ceasefire deal. ( Watch )

As the Islamist Hamas movement and other militant groups also announced a week-long truce of their own, the guns on both sides fell silent giving Gaza's traumatised population a second night of relative peace.

Israel has said it wants to leave Gaza as quickly as possible after its deadliest-ever offensive there which reduced much of the enclave to ruins -- a devastating war in which Hamas leader Ismail Haniya claimed a "great victory".

"God has granted us a great victory, not for one faction, or party, or area, but for our entire people," said Haniya, Hamas' prime minister, in a televised address.

"We have stopped the aggression and the enemy has failed to achieve any of its goals," he added.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed Israel's ceasefire but said it was "only a first step" and must go further.

"We should immediately convene a major international conference which would allow us to establish peace this year," Sarkozy said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Israel to reopen the crossings to long-blockaded Gaza, saying a sustainable ceasefire would require "humanitarian access" to the territory.

Israel's decision to call a unilateral ceasefire in its war on Hamas came about after it won pledges from Washington and Cairo to help prevent arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip -- a task in which Europe has also pledged to help.

Top leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating EU presidency, attended a dinner in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert late on Sunday after earlier participating in a summit in Egypt aimed at shoring up the truce.

A senior Israeli official said Olmert had thanked them for their support for Israel's concerns and had urged them to make good on pledges to halt the flow of arms into Gaza.

"He urged them to follow through their commitments on smuggling and efforts to stop the rearmament of Hamas," the official said.

Egypt held separate talks with Hamas, and President Hosni Mubarak announced plans to host an international aid conference to help rebuild Gaza.

Cairo has also invited Israeli and Palestinian officials for separate meetings on Thursday to discuss an Egyptian initiative for an extended truce, state news agency MENA reported.

It was not immediately clear whether the invitation had been accepted to the talks which are aimed at "taking the necessary steps to stabilize the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip" and ending the siege of Gaza, a foreign ministry official told MENA.

After exchanges of gunfire and an air strike punctured what Olmert acknowledged was a "fragile" unilateral ceasefire, Hamas and other militant groups announced a one-week truce of their own.

"(We) demand that enemy forces withdraw in a week and open all the border crossings to permit the entry of humanitarian aid and basic goods," Mussa Abu Marzuk, deputy leader of Hamas' politburo, said in Damascus.

The military confirmed troop withdrawals had begun after witnesses in Gaza City saw troops pulling back towards the border fence.

Olmert on Saturday ordered an end to the Gaza offensive but warned troops would return fire if attacked.

After the ceasefire came into effect at 2:00 am (0000 GMT), Gaza enjoyed its first bomb-free night in more than three weeks, although militants launched around 18 rockets into Israel and on Sunday, Israel hit back with airstrikes.

Medics took advantage of the ceasefire to comb areas which had been inaccessible, pulling at least 95 bodies from the rubble, including those of several children.

The discoveries brought the overall death toll since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27 to more than 1,300, medics said.

On the ground, residents cautiously ventured out onto the streets.

"Everything has been completely destroyed," said Yahia Karin, 54, in Zeitun, a Gaza City neighborhood ravaged by furious battles between Israeli ground troops and Hamas militants.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas repeated his call for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the reopening of the enclave's border crossings.

Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off from all but vital humanitarian aid since Hamas seized power there in June 2007.

India faces threat of another 26/11: US study

NEW YORK: India can expect more terror attacks like the Mumbai carnage from Pakistan-based terrorist groups with high body counts and symbolic
targets in an escalating terror campaign in South Asia, a study by a leading US think tank has warned.

"India will continue to face a serious jihadist threat from Pakistan-based terrorist groups, and neither Indian nor U.S. policy is likely to reduce that threat in the near future," said Angel Rabasa, lead author of the study and a senior political scientist with RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization.

"Other extremist groups in Pakistan likely will find inspiration in the Mumbai attacks, and we can expect more attacks with high body counts and symbolic targets."

The Mumbai terrorist attacks suggest the possibility of a rise of a strategic terrorist culture, the study said.

The RAND study identifies the operational and tactical features of the attack, evaluates the response of Indian security forces, and analyzes the implications for India, Pakistan and the United States.

Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has been blamed for the 26/11 strikes.

The report acknowledged that both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons, making any military action a "dangerous course", but warned that if India does not respond, that "would signal a lack of Indian resolve or capability."

The selection of multiple targets --- Americans, Britons and Jews, as well as Indians -- suggests that the terrorists intended the attack to serve multiple objectives that extended beyond the terrorists' previous focus on Kashmir and India.

Mumbai is India's commercial and entertainment center, and the attacks on landmark properties amplified the psychological impact, according to the report.

"The defining characteristic of the Mumbai attack, and what makes it so alarming, is not just the ruthless killing, but the meticulous planning and preparation that went into the operation," said Brian Michael Jenkins, a leading terrorism expert and senior adviser at RAND.

Other authors of the study are former U.S. Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill, now a senior fellow at RAND; Peter Chalk, Kim Cragin, C. Christine Fair, Seth Jones, Nathaniel Shestak, all of RAND, and Ashley Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"The goal was not only to slaughter as many people as possible, but to target specific groups of people and facilities with political, cultural and emotional value. This indicates a level of strategic thought -- a strategic culture -- that poses a difficult challenge: not whether we can outgun the terrorists, but can we out think them?"

One of the main lessons of Mumbai is that it exposed numerous weaknesses in India's counter-terrorism and threat mitigation structure, according to the report.

Without an appropriate response, Pakistan, or at least those elements of its military and intelligence leadership that are supportive of the activities of groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, are likely to conclude that these operations, in some measure, yield benefits that exceed the cost.

For these and a myriad other reasons, researchers say, India is likely to remain a target of Pakistan-based and indigenous Islamist terrorism for the foreseeable future.

The Mumbai attacks are significant in their audacity and ambition, as well as the complexity of the operation and the diversity of targets, according to researchers.

The report analyzes key weaknesses in the country's general counter-terrorism and threat-mitigation structure, including gaps in coastal surveillance, inadequate "target hardening," incomplete execution of response protocols, response timing problems, inadequate counter-terrorism training and equipment for the local police, limitations of municipal fire and emergency services, flawed hostage-rescue plans, and poor strategic communications and information management.

The Mumbai terrorist attack has significant and potentially far-reaching implications for India, Pakistan, and the international community, according to the researchers.

AMU to start 'Islamic Banking' course

LUCKNOW: In what is being touted as a first of its kind in the country, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) will launch a one-year post graduate
diploma course in 'Islamic Banking and Finance' based on tenets of Shariah.

"The basic principle of Islamic banking based on Shariah, Islamic rules of transaction, is prohibition of Riba (interest)and is known as interest free banking system. As per the tenets of Islam earning interest on money deposit and loans in the bank is prohibited by law," Dr Mohammad Nejatullah Siddiqi, who designed the one-year diploma course, told reporters.

The university academic council, highest body of the university, which decides on academic affairs, has approved of the introduction of the course early this month from the next academic session, he said, adding, that there would initially be 20 seats in the course.

In this system of banking the depositor, who does not bear risk as in other banking systems, has to equally share the risk with the bank. Owner of the capital, however, is allowed to have a share in the bank's profits, Siddiqui, a retired AMU professor of Economics and Islamic Studies, said, adding that a similar system is followed by the banks while offering loans to the customers.

This type of banking system reduces speculation or gambling, he said. The course would enable students to make a career in Islamic banking, which is already very popular in Islamic countries, he added.

"As of now no university in the country is offering a course in Islamic Banking. Though some research work on the subject has been done in Karnataka and Pune universities, and a handful of part time refresher courses are being offered by some institutes, the course does not figure in the syllabus of any university," he claimed.

About the future prospects of the course, he said that though there are no Islamic banks in India, there existed a few non-banking cooperatives in Karnataka and Mumbai, which have branches in cities like Aligarh and Chennai.

"India is seen as a potential place for the Islamic banking, which can also attract NRI investors. Some of the top Indian companies are looking forward to launch Islamic financial products in the country," said Siddiqi, claiming that the placements after pursuing this course would be very good.

Source: Times of India.
Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/AMU_to_start_Islamic_Banking_course/articleshow/3996635.cms.

Leatherback turtle added to endangered species list

The Federal Government has added the world's largest sea turtle to the endangered species list.

The leatherback turtle had previously been listed as vulnerable.

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says the turtle was being threatened by unsustainable harvesting of egg and meat and pressures from commercial fishing.

The turtle is one of 18 new species added to the national threatened species list.

Somalia Prominent Sufi cleric killed outside Mogadishu family blames Al-Shabab

A prominent Sufi cleric named Sheikh Muhammad Elbur was last night killed in the locality of Elasha Biyaha [on Mogadishu outskirts]. The killing was carried out by two pistol-wielding masked men who stormed into the house where the cleric was and shot him four times as he sat on a prayer rug, having finished performing his sunset prayer.

Sheikh Elbur, may God have mercy on him, had gone to Elasha Biyaha to visit his mother who lives there. He was with his blind mother when he was killed. The family of Sheikh Muhammad Elbur said the armed Al-Shabab Wahhabi group was behind his killing.

Latest reports reaching us Mareeg from Elasha Biyaha say that the cleric will be buried today and the burial will be attended by a large number of religious leaders, prominent personalities, and ordinary people.

Sheikh Muhammad Elbur, may God have mercy on him, was a member of Ahlu Sunna wal Jama'a.

His killing is a clear indication that the Al-Shabab Wahhabi group is engaged in a campaign of targeted killings against clerics of Ahlu Sunna wal Jama'a, who are renowned for dissemination of Islamic teachings. Most Somalis graduated from Koranic schools dotting across Somalia.

In 2008, gunmen killed Sheikh Muhammad Kashka in Bulo Hubey neighborhood [in Mogadishu].

He was a renowned scholar in various Islamic disciplines and a disseminator of Islam. The family of the cleric said that the cleric had described the fighting, the so-called jihad, raging in Somalia as unjust.
Al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur had said that they were not fighting Ahlu Sunna wal Jama'ah. The revelation made by the family of the cleric that Al-Shabab was behind his killing undercuts Abu Mansur's assertion.

Iran discovers, dismantles "soft overthrow" project

An official of Iran's intelligence ministry counter-espionage said on Monday that Iran had discovered and dismantled a "soft overthrow" project, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The official, who was not named, said that his country had discovered and arrested four members of the network involved in "soft overthrow" projects against the country.

Among the detainees, there were two brothers named Arash and Kamiar Alaei, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The two brothers, who were also doctors and practitioners in HIV/AIDS in Iran, had been in jail since June, 2008.

Claiming that the United States was at the back of the project, he said that "the U.S. was trying to implement one of its old strategies practiced against the former Soviet Union, known as 'Riga' project, in Iran as well, which was re-activated in Dubai, lately," in an attempt to penetrate into the country's civil institutions.

Iran's judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said on Saturday that Tehran's Revolutionary Court convicted and sentenced four Iranians to jail on charges of trying to topple the Islamic government with the support of the U.S. State Department and the CIA, IRNA said but did not elaborate on the length of the sentences.

Jamshidi said the four were detained and tried in Tehran. He said they planned to recruit others to be trained abroad for anti-Iranian activities.

Iran has incessantly accused the United States and Israel of plotting against the Islamic regime by disclosing documents and trying their alleged agents in the country.

In November 2008, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said that Iran had discovered an Israeli spy network.

Iran also hanged in Tehran on Nov. 17 an Iranian citizen named Ali Ashtari, charged of spying for Israel, to show that it had entered a "serious intelligence war with" Israel.

Meanwhile, an Iranian Intelligence Ministry official warned Saturday that Iranians should be on alert "about the serious danger of penetration of the Israeli intelligence services to Iran's internet and telecommunications network."

UN Warns of Looming Battle Between Rebels in Sudan’s Darfur

By Heba Aly

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations-led peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s western Darfur region yesterday said former rebels may attack a southern town, where 30,000 civilians are at risk.

This comes after a battle on Jan. 15 for control of the town of Muhajariya in South Darfur between a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army led by Minni Minawi and the Justice and Equality Movement, which is also fighting the Sudanese government.

A “catastrophic humanitarian situation” may develop if the fighting continues, Unamid said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. “Recent reports indicate that the SLA is regrouping for a counterattack to regain control of Muhajariya, which was their stronghold for a long time.”

Up to 300,000 people have died in the conflict in Darfur and close to 3 million others were forced to leave their homes after rebels took up arms against the government in 2003, complaining of marginalization, according to the UN.

Kenro Oshidari, acting UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said he is “deeply concerned” about the humanitarian situation in Muhajariya, where the town’s occupants are exposed to “levels of violence previously not seen.”

Civilians rushed to the peacekeeping base for protection during the fighting, Unamid said Jan. 16. At least 45 people died, 100 families were displaced and 150 houses burned, the Khartoum-based Sudanese Media Center said.

Mini Minawi was the only major rebel leader to sign a peace agreement with the government in 2006. Since then, rebel groups have fragmented into multiple factions, which, according to Victor Tanner and Jerome Tubiana of the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, is impeding peace in Darfur.

Source: Bloomberg.
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=ad6QFpMU.7Do&refer=africa.

Sudan's JEM rebels take control of Darfur town: UN

KHARTOUM (AFP) – Rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement have taken control of Muhajaria town in the western Sudan region of Darfur, the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission there said on Sunday.

JEM forces have been clashing with ex-rebels from the Sudanese Liberation Army faction of Minni Minawi, the only group to have signed a peace deal with Khartoum, which traditionally controls the area, UNAMID said in a statement.

JEM has "taken full control of Muhajaria, South Darfur," after fierce fighting that has led to additional suffering to the civilian population in the area," UNAMID said.

The UN's humanitarian coordinator in Sudan Kenro Oshidari said on Saturday the fighting has caused an unknown number of deaths and injuries after "levels of violence previously not seen in the town."

Peacekeepers have evacuated six critically injured people, UNAMID said.

An aid agency office has been destroyed and UNAMID peacekeepers are on the ground to protect the local population, the statement said, expressing "grave concern for the lives and safety of the civilian population."

The war in Darfur began in 2003 when African ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-led Khartoum regime and state-backed Arab militias, fighting for resources and power in one of the most remote and deprived places on earth.

The conflict has since deteriorated with the emergence of a multiplying array of rebel groups, breakaway militias and bandits.

Pakistan reopens NATO supply route after brief halt

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – Pakistan reopened a main NATO supply route to Afghanistan Monday after the road was briefly closed by a rebel rocket attack that killed one soldier and wounded 10 others, officials said.

Taliban militants launched the pre-dawn attack on a Pakistani paramilitary force camp in Landi Kotal town, near the Torkham border crossing, a local administration official said.

"The rebels fired eight rockets on the camp, killing one soldier and wounding 10 others," the official said, requesting anonymity.

Troops retaliated with an artillery and mortar attack against suspected militant hideouts on hills overlooking the main Peshawar-Torkham road, he said.

Details of any militant casualties were not immediately available, he said, adding that troops in a search operation later recovered a vehicle loaded with some arms and ammunition.

Traffic had to be suspended during the four-hour operation, from 7:00 am to 11:00 am (0200-0600 GMT), after which NATO trucks resumed their journey via the famed Khyber Pass, he said.

Pakistani security forces launched a major operation in the region three weeks ago to flush out militants from hideouts along the road.

The operation was mounted after a series of spectacular attacks on depots in and around the northwestern city of Peshawar, in which hundreds of vehicles used to ferry supplies to NATO and US forces in Afghanistan were torched.

The road passes through the heart of Pakistan's lawless tribal zone, where extremists have sought refuge after Afghanistan's hardline Taliban regime was ousted in a US-led invasion at the end of 2001.

Security forces last week also ordered a temporary closure of the road when they expanded their offensive from the town of Jamrud, the gateway to the Khyber Pass, into Landi Kotal.

Suicide blast near NATO base, Afghan killed

KHOST, Afghanistan (AFP) – A suicide bomber blew up an explosives-filled vehicle near a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan Monday, killing an Afghan teenager and wounding several civilians, officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the town of Khost about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border with Pakistan, the officials said.

"In the car bomb blast, a woman and six other civilians were wounded and one civilian was killed," Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

The body of a 15-year-old boy was taken to a hospital in the town, said doctor Abdul Majeed.

First reports were that no members of NATO's International Security Assistance Force were hurt in the blast, said an ISAF spokeswoman for the east region, Lieutenant Colonel Rumi Nielson-Green.

However, five Afghan children, a woman and a man were hurt, she said.

The blast appeared to have been aimed at an ISAF base near Camp Salerno, the biggest US military base in eastern Afghanistan.

Bashary said there were two suicide bombers in the vehicle. One left the car before the bomb exploded and had apparently intended to cause a second explosion among the crowd that gathered after the first.

He was instead was wounded in the car bomb blast and fell to the ground, where he later blew himself up, causing no further casualties.

Earlier Monday a roadside bomb was remotely detonated in Khost as a police vehicle passed, provincial police chief Abdul Qayoom Bakizoy told AFP. A policeman and a civilian were hurt, he said.

Khost has seen regular attacks over the past months, including one on December 28 near a government office that left 14 children and two Afghan adults dead.

Suicide bombs are a main feature of an extremist insurgency being led by the Taliban, who were in government from 1996 to 2001.

The hardline Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb outside the German embassy in Kabul Saturday that killed four Afghan civilians and a US soldier.

Snowy owls find home near airport runways

To a snowy owl, the runways looks like home: the tundra of northern Canada.

By TOM MEERSMAN, Star Tribune

With its almost-constant landings and takeoffs, you would think the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport would not attract birds, but to a snowy owl, the runways looks like home: the tundra of northern Canada.

The striking white raptors with huge yellow eyes are usually seen during in winter in northern Minnesota, but this year they have been spotted farther south and in greater numbers than usual. Two snowy owls have apparently staked their winter hunting claims at the airport.

"I've seen the bird 50 feet from a runway," said journalist and bird expert Jim Williams, who writes the Wingnut blog for StarTribune.com. "This huge jet plane comes down and it didn't move, didn't flinch, didn't fly away. It just seemed oblivious to a million pounds of roaring airplane."

Snowy owls are territorial and solitary at this time of year, he said. Because they patrol large areas, the chances of an owl-jet collision are virtually impossible.

Canadian reports have suggested that 2008 was a prolific breeding year for the owls, so the larger numbers flying farther south may be the result of population pressure and the need for juveniles to find new hunting grounds.

Snowy owls prefer lemmings, said Williams, but they'll settle for rabbits, mice, voles and other rodents that live in the open spaces between runways.

The one seen most frequently at the airport is white with lots of black markings and is probably a juvenile male. Adult males are pure white.

Julia Ponder, executive director at the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota, said that her staff has treated nine snowy owls so far this winter, equal to the past three years combined. One with a wing fractured in three places is recuperating at the center after surgery. It was found Oct. 30 near a railroad track in Cottage Grove.

Iran's Ahmadinejad congratulates Hamas on 'victory'

TEHRAN, Jan 19, 2009 (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday congratulated Hamas on its "victory" in its war with Israel, the state news agency IRNA reported.

"Today is the beginning of victory, and perseverance will complete the links of victory," Ahmadinejad told Hamas' exiled chief Khaled Meshaal in a telephone call, the report said.

Islamic states, he added, should seek to "pressure the Zionist regime to fully retreat, open the crossings, try the Zionist criminals, cut ties with the fake Zionist regime and boycott its goods and those of its supporters."

Israeli troops on Monday began withdrawing from Gaza after ending their deadly 22-day onslaught against Hamas in the battered territory.

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said the war with Israel which killed more than 1,300 Palestinians amounted to a "great victory".

Iran is a staunch supporter of the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, and does not recognize its archfoe Israel.

'Implementation of Arab League summit decisions a victory'

Tehran, Jan 19 : Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that implementation of decisions made in the extraordinary Arab League Summit in Doha will be a victory for Islamic countries, official IRNA news agency reported.

President Ahmadinejad made the remark in a telephone conversation with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad Sunday.

The Iranian president called for more coordination and cooperation on Gaza.

"We should try to carry out the decisions made in the Doha summit to help materialize the cause of Palestine completely," said the Ahmadinejad.

"We are duty-bound to help the Palestinian nation and create suitable grounds for them to continue their decent lives," he said.

Somalis Welcome Defeat of al-Shabaab Wahhabi terror group

By Peter Clottey
Washington, D.C
12 January 2009

Somalis are celebrating reports of the defeat of the Wahhabi fundamentalist group al-Shabab after several members of their fighters were killed Sunday in fierce clashes in central Somalia. Al-Shabab, described as by Washington as a terrorist organization, clashed with Islamist Sunni group Ahlu Sunna Wal jamaa for control of central Somalia as Ethiopian troops began their crucial withdrawal. Several al-Shabab militant fighters were reported killed and their weapons seized. Sheik Abdul karim Risak is a senior officer of the Islamic group Ahlu Sunna Wal jamaa. He tells reporter Peter Clottey that his fighters will continue fighting al-Shabab until they are flushed out of Somalia.

Al-Shabab angered moderate Islamists last month by desecrating the graves of Sufi clerics buried in the al-Shabab-controlled southern city of Kismayo. A moderate religious brotherhood called Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a subsequently emerged as a military faction, calling on followers to wage a holy war against al-Shabab.

"As you already know, early in the morning they (al-Shabab) came from different places to Gruael. You know, most of the Somalis call them al-Shabab, but in the Somali language we say they are al-Shaar because they are evil really. They come fighting in different places and killed a lot of people, but Allah willing, we saved our people and we pushed them back some kilometers," Risak noted.

He said his Ahlu Sunna Wal jamaa fighters would continue to protect mainstream defenseless Somalis.

"We are defending ourselves. We are defending our wives. And we are defending our religion. Our religion prohibits Muslims fighting among ourselves, and you know, these people are not Muslims at all. They are foreign fighters the leaders of al-Shabab have acknowledged ties to al-Qaeda but al-Qaeda is not functioning here in Somalia," he said.

Risak said his group is full of devout Muslims who pleaded with al-Shabab not to attack them, but claims that was not heeded.

"In here we consider Islam as a very good religion and we are not at war with anybody. We already told them to please not enter into our area of influence and internal affairs, but they refused that," Risak pointed out.

He said his group would continue to flush out fighters belonging to al-Shabab.

"Thanks to Allah, we have taught them a lesson today because they left at least 50 persons dead. And I think most of them are foreigners, and maybe they might be coming from South East Asia. And today they have received a good lesson. And I think they would not fight again because this is the latest casualties they have received in Gureal... and now we are moving to the capital, Mogadishu. We will continue to chase them wherever they are, and even if they are in a corner of our country, I think we would not stop our fighting," he said.

Meanwhile, Somali political analysts say there is a high possibility that the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops could usher in a new chapter of violence, adding that it may also open a window of opportunity to bring some Islamist groups into the political process and form a broad, inclusive government.

Some witnesses of Sunday's clashes between Wahhabi al-Shabab fighters and Ahlu Sunna Wal jamaa fighters say at least 20 people, mostly fighters of al-Shabab, were killed.

Saudi king donates $1 bln for Gaza

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Monday announced the donation of one billion dollars for the reconstruction of Gaza battered by a deadly Israeli offensive.

"On behalf of the Saudi people, I declare the donation of one billion dollars for programs to rebuild Gaza," the Saudi monarch said at the opening session of an Arab summit in Kuwait.

The Arab leaders are tipped to approve the setting up of a two-billion dollar fund for the reconstruction of Gaza.

Qatar last week suggested the establishment of a fund for Gaza and donated 250 million dollars.

Follow-up: Israeli navy blocks Gaza protest boat

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - Israeli warships forced a boat trying to deliver food and medical supplies to Gaza to return to Cyprus early Thursday.

Free Gaza group spokeswoman Mary Hughes-Thompson said Israeli naval vessels surrounded the 66-foot (20-meter) Greek-flagged boat off southern Lebanon and threatened to open fire if it did not turn back.

The Israeli military said navy ships warned the boat to turn back because it was entering a war zone subject to a naval blockade. The ship turned back without incident, the military said.

Hughes-Thompson said the boat, carrying 5 tons of supplies and 21 passengers, including three surgeons, was expected to arrive at Larnaca port in Cyprus by Thursday evening.

It was the second failed bid by the U.S.-based group to try to reach Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the Palestinian territory late last month in response to rocket fire on Israel.

One of the trip's organizers, Vangelis Pisias, said the Israeli navy had threatened to open fire on the Greek-flagged boat Spirit of Humanity, which was carrying the activists.

«They told us that it was forbidden to go to our destination. We replied that we were carrying humanitarian supplies and continued on our course,» Pisias told Greece's private Antenna television.
«About half an hour later, they returned with a threat, telling us they were obliged to stop the boat with all means possible ... They said if we did not stop they would shoot.
In a statement, Free Gaza said the incident occurred in international waters and described the incident as «shocking.

«At roughly 1:00 a.m. GMT, in international waters 100 miles off the coast of Gaza, at least five Israeli gunboats surrounded the Spirit of Humanity and began recklessly cutting in front of the slow-moving civilian craft,» the statement said. «The Israeli warships radioed the Spirit, demanding that the ship turn around or they would open fire and shoot.

In Athens, the Greek Foreign Ministry said it had sent a strong protest to the Israeli Foreign Ministry that «emphasized and asked for the Israeli authorities to pay particular attention to the protection of the lives and security of those on board the boat.

It said protests had also been sent the previous day to the Israeli foreign and defense ministries.

Likud MP admits failure of Zionist military aggression on Gaza

Zionist Likud lawmaker Yisrael Katz admitted the failure of the Zionist military aggression on the Gaza Strip, asserting that Zionist entity did not achieve its goals in the war which resulted in hundreds of casualties in the ranks of its troops.

Katz said that the military operation in Gaza did not succeed after Zionist premier Ehud Olmert announced a unilateral ceasefire, pointing out that Zionist entity neither eliminated the strength of the Palestinian resistance factions, nor reached an agreement to stop arms supplies to Gaza or get Zionist soldier Gilad Shalit released.

The Observer, one of the best-selling newspapers in the UK, said that the war on Gaza inflicted a moral defeat on Zionist entity.

The newspaper considered that the concept which says that security problems can be resolved by the unilateral use of force is only a delusion dominating the mindset of Zionist politicians.

It added that such a way of thinking did not take into account the fact that an all-out war in the densely populated Gaza against the Palestinian resistance would be essentially an attack on the civilian population of Gaza.

The newspaper noted that Zionist entity would insist on saying that it was able to limit the ability of the Palestinian resistance to fire rockets, but the newspaper recalled that the apparent target of Zionist entity's war was the destruction of that capacity completely.

The truth, however, in the eyes of the newspaper is that the popularity of the Palestinian resistance has increased because of the brutality of the Zionist military aggression on Gaza.

For his part, Dr. Abdelsattar Qassem, a professor of political science at the Najah national university in Nablus, said that the battle in Gaza was settled in favor of the Palestinian resistance in terms of its steadfastness after 22 days of Zionist aggression.

Dr. Qassem stressed that the popularity of the Palestinian resistance spearheaded by Hamas doubled among the Palestinian people and in the Arab and Islamic arenas and would gain further momentum at the expense of the PA in Ramallah.

The professor added that Zionist entity failed to break the back of the Palestinian resistance and to achieve any of its stated goals such as changing the situation in Gaza, bringing back the PA and invading the Gaza Strip cities.

He underscored that Zionist entity is aware now that its achievement of military victory is over because it had been already defeated by the Lebanese resistance and now it made the greatest failure when it failed to invade Gaza despite the fact that it is a small stretch of land under siege for years, besides the Palestinian resistance's defense capability in Gaza is not as that owned by the Lebanese resistance.

Thousands at risk as Darfur fighters prepare attack: U.N.

By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Darfur fighters who signed a peace deal with Sudan's government are poised to attack a strategic town, putting the lives of 30,000 civilians at risk, peacekeepers said on Sunday.

Forces loyal to Minni Arcua Minnawi, a former rebel leader who is now a presidential assistant, were preparing a counter-attack on Muhajiriya after losing it to rival rebels last week, said the joint U.N./African Union mission (UNAMID).

The threat of a new wave of violence raised tensions ahead of a decision by the International Criminal Court on whether to issue an arrest warrant against Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

More than 20 people were injured when Minnawi's wing of the Sudan Liberation Army clashed with the insurgent Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on Thursday on the outskirts of the town in south Darfur.

JEM at the time said it had taken control of Muhajiriya, seen as a stronghold of Minnawi who was the only Darfur rebel leader to sign a peace deal with the government in 2006. Officials from Minnawi's movement denied losing the town.

UNAMID on Sunday released a statement confirming JEM was now in control of the settlement, 80 km (50 Miles) from Nyala, the capital of south Darfur.

It added it had reports Minnawi's forces were regrouping for a counter-attack to regain control of Muhajiriya and that it had grave concern for the civilian population.

Minnawi was not immediately available for comment and officials from his presidential assistant office in Khartoum said they did not have information on military preparations.

Senior JEM commander Suleiman Sandal told Reuters his forces had not originally intended to take the town, but had taken control of the territory after fighting off an attack from Minnawi's troops.

"We have control of the town and we are carrying out patrols. Minnawi is not our target. We will keep it and all the territory we control in Darfur," Sandal said.

"Our target is the National Congress Party (the dominant party of Sudan's president)," he added.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has asked judges to issue an arrest warrant against Bashir, accusing him of orchestrating genocide in the region.

Senior government officials have said JEM is building up its forces for a major assault on oil fields and cities in Darfur as soon as the judges make their ruling, expected in coming weeks.

International experts say 200,000 have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan's government, accusing it of neglect.

Khartoum mobilized mostly Arab militias to crush the revolt and deny accusations from activists that genocide was committed during the counter-insurgency.

After almost six years of fighting, the situation disintegrated into a chaotic clash of often competing rebel groups, bandits, militias and government troops.

Pakistan temporarily halts US-NATO supplies

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Pakistan temporarily closed the major land supply route to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan on Monday after suspected insurgents killed a soldier and wounded 14, adding urgency to efforts to secure alternative supply lines as more U.S. troops head to the region.

Growing militant activity along the legendary Khyber Pass has prompted several temporary closures in recent months, and it was not immediately clear how long the latest suspension would last.

Afghan-based U.S. and NATO forces get up to 75 percent of their supplies via routes that traverse Pakistan, with Khyber being the main conduit into Afghanistan. The trucks that carry the fuel, food and other goods face constant threats of violence. Militants have also ransacked truck-holding terminals in the nearby city of Peshawar.

The Khyber region is part of Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal belt, where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters hold tremendous sway. The Pakistani government has dispatched paramilitary escorts for the supply convoys and recently launched a crackdown on militants in Khyber, but militant activity has continued.

In the latest attack, suspected militants fired eight rockets at a Pakistani military camp in the Landikotal area early Monday, said Fazal Mahmood, a senior government official in Khyber. One soldier died, while 14 were wounded, he said.

A daylong curfew was imposed in Landikotal, while security forces are hunting down the militants in the neighboring Khugi Khel area, Mahmood said.

The Khyber Pass has been a major trade and military gateway between Pakistan and Afghanistan for centuries, making its control and security critical to any armies present in the region. The vulnerability of the supply line is an especially pressing issue now because the U.S. troop deployment to Afghanistan is expected to as much as double this year to 60,000.

U.S. and NATO officials insist the militant activity so far has had a minimal impact on their operations.

Still, NATO acknowledges alternative routes are under active consideration.

In Brussels earlier this month, a NATO official said diplomatic efforts were nearing conclusion to set up new routes that will likely pass through Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Last year, Russia agreed that NATO could use its territory to resupply forces in landlocked Afghanistan. But talks with Central Asian nations that border Afghanistan have taken longer than planned.

Iraqi shoe thrower to seek Swiss asylum: lawyer

GENEVA – A Swiss lawyer working on behalf of the Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush says his client will seek political asylum in Switzerland.

Geneva-based lawyer Mauro Poggia says Muntadhar al-Zeidi's life is in danger in Iraq.

Al-Zeidi is currently in an Iraqi jail awaiting trial on charges of assaulting a foreign leader for his Dec. 14 outburst at a news conference in Baghdad.

Poggia says he was contacted by al-Zeidi's family earlier this month. He says the journalist has been beaten and tortured in Iraqi detention.

Poggia told The Associated Press on Monday that al-Zeidi would have to go to the Swiss Embassy in Baghdad once he is released to formally file the asylum request.

Al-Sadr's followers eye comeback in Jan. 31 vote

By HAMZA HENDAWI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers

AMARAH, Iraq – Followers of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr hope to win back their position as a major force in this month's regional elections after a string of military and political setbacks last year.

Even modest success in the Jan. 31 vote for ruling provincial councils could position the Sadrists as coalition partners in key southern provinces, where a large number of candidates makes it unlikely any single party can win on its own.

Anything short of that could relegate the once formidable al-Sadr to political irrelevance — something unthinkable a year ago when his fearsome Mahdi Army militia wielded vast power in Shiite areas of Iraq.

"This month's elections will decide who remains in the political arena and who will go into oblivion," said senior Sadrist lawmaker Hassan al-Rubaie. "If we fail to do well, our movement could fragment, and some of its key figures could be lured away by rival blocs trying to destroy us."

Top Sadrist officials in key southern cities — Basra, Amarah and Najaf — spoke confidently about their election prospects during interviews with The Associated Press.

But they fear that authorities may step up arrests of al-Sadr's supporters and campaign workers in response to his call for attacks on U.S. forces in retaliation for Israel's offensive in Gaza.

The Sadrists also face a strong threat from the country's two largest Shiite parties — the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and the Dawa party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Both are vigorously campaigning to retain their grip on the south and prevent any inroads by al-Sadr's group, which has been significantly weakened since the heady days when it held sway in Shiite areas of Baghdad and southern Iraq.

Hundreds of its key members have been detained by U.S. and Iraqi forces over the past two years — especially after the government crackdown on militias in Baghdad and Basra last spring.

The Mahdi Army, which battled the Americans for years, has been riveted with divisions. The militiamen's former image as the defender of the Shiites has been tarnished among many urban Shiites who consider them gangsters.

The Sadrists' best chance for success could be in Amarah, an oil-rich area near the Iranian border that had been controlled by the cleric's followers before the crackdown last year. The Sadrists remain in control of the provincial council of Maysan, the province of which Amarah is the capital.

"The Sadrist movement will be in a bad situation if we lose Amarah," said Hassan al-Husseini, al-Sadr's chief representative in Amarah, 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.

"But other groups are determined to oust us from Amarah," he said, squatting on the floor beneath a larger-than-life portrait of al-Sadr's father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was gunned down by suspected Saddam Hussein agents in 1999.

As in previous elections, no candidates are running explicitly as followers of al-Sadr. They are nominally independent — but the movement makes sure that voters know which candidates it supports.

Winning about a third of the council seats in the nine southern provinces would be considered a success, said Salah al-Obeidi, al-Sadr's chief spokesman. The movement wants to prevent the other Shiite parties from winning enough seats to monopolize power, he said.

"Our ultimate goal is not to allow governors to do as they please," al-Obeidi said at his Najaf office.

The Sadrists, whose movement began in the 1990s, emerged as a formidable political and social force after U.S. troops overthrew Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime in 2003.

They survived a 2004 uprising against the Americans after the powerful Shiite clergy intervened to prevent al-Sadr's arrest. Al-Maliki's predecessor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, brought Sadrists into the government, giving them several Cabinet posts.

But the Sadrists did not field a full slate of candidates in the last provincial elections four years ago, leaving the south to the Supreme Council, Dawa and regional groups.

Two years ago, it appeared that the Sadrists, who draw strength from millions of impoverished Shiites, would threaten the position of the two major Shiite parties because of complaints of bad governance in the south.

But a series of missteps cost the movement dearly.

Sadrist ministers pulled out of al-Maliki's Cabinet in 2007 to protest his cooperation with the U.S., depriving the movement much of its influence in government. The move also angered al-Maliki, who ordered U.S.-backed Iraqi forces last year into Basra, the Baghdad district of Sadr City and other areas to wrest control from al-Sadr's militia.

Al-Sadr himself moved to Iran two years ago, weakening his leadership at a time his movement needed him most.

The Sadrists' appeal to voters has been their uncompromising anti-American stand, social welfare programs for the poor and the prestige of al-Sadr's late father, who defended Shiite rights when few would speak out under Saddam.

"We are proud of our opposition to the (U.S.) occupation," said Ayed al-Mayahi, al-Sadr's representative in Basra. "Everything that has happened to us was the price we paid for that stand."

Israeli officials: Gaza troops out by inauguration

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM – Israeli officials say their troops will leave the Gaza Strip before President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated on Tuesday.

This is the first official indication that Israel plans a rapid withdrawal of its forces after announcing a unilateral cease-fire Saturday in its devastating three-week offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers.

Thousands of Israeli troops have begun leaving Gaza. Hamas declared a weeklong truce on Sunday.

The officials spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been publicly announced.

Government spokesman Mark Regev would not confirm the timetable. He says that if Gaza remains quiet, Israel's departure will be "almost immediate."

Gazans dig bodies from rubble as cease-fire begins

By IBRAHIM BARZAK and ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writers

JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip – For Palestinians searching the rubble of this devastated refugee camp, the mounds of concrete and metal hid all they desperately wanted and needed: the bodies of dead relatives, belongings and — bitterly — scraps of bombs now valuable enough to sell as recycled aluminum.

Destruction was everywhere on Sunday, in churned up farmland, dangling electricity poles, charred bodies of cars abandoned on pulverized roads, and broken pipes overflowing with sewage. The stench of rotting corpses, both human and animal, hung in the air.

For three weeks, Israeli airstrikes targeted Hamas militants who have been firing missiles at Israel for the last eight years, smashing much of Gaza's already shabby infrastructure and turning neighborhoods into battle zones.

The fragile cease-fire and first troops withdrawals on Sunday allowed families and medics to intensify the search for bodies — with more than 100 dead recovered Sunday, according to Palestinian health officials. The number of Palestinian dead now stood at more than 1,250, half of those civilians. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the fighting.

For two weeks, ground combat kept residents of Jebaliya like Zayed Hadar from their homes. On Sunday, Hadar searched through his family home with most of his 10 children. The three-story building had been flattened.

"We've pulled out my nephew, but I don't know how many are still under there," Hadar said, as several Israeli tanks rolled in the distance.

A mosque nearby lay entirely flattened save for a lone minaret that loomed over the dusty concrete.

In the same area, Palestinian boys, both cynically and desperately, mined for shards of aluminum from the missiles that had killed so many. "This big bit can bring back 1 shekel" or 25 cents, said Youssouf Dardoum, holding out a large chunk of twisted missile case.

Meanwhile, neighbors frantically dug through mounds of dirt to free a bleating sheep, trapped among duck carcasses.

Hamas policemen also emerged for the first time since fighting began in their dark blue uniforms, directing traffic. Others prevented looting, at one point firing volleys into their air as Jebaliya residents tried to lynch a youth accused of stealing belongings in a ruined house that wasn't his.

In the northwest Gaza Strip farming community of Atatra, where ground fighting raged between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants, medics wearing white face masks to block the stench pulled five bodies from a smashed house, including a woman in a long blue robe, then the leg of a child.

"We don't know if they are human or animal, it's a shame! By God, we are human!" said a medic who gave his name only as Ahmad, pushing down the cloth covering his face. "We need specialized emergency teams, we are digging with our hands."

Khadija Radi, 83, watched as her great-grandchildren to picked through the remains of her damaged home. She sat on a pile of concrete, holding prayer beads, her walking stick beside her.

"These are the only things left from my belongings," she said, pointing to a pillow and a slipper. Her daughter Sadia salvaged dusty mattresses and loaded them onto a donkey cart.

Like many other residents from damaged zones, Sadia Radi said her extended family of 27 would sleep at a relative's home until they could find money to repair their own. Britain on Sunday announced it was tripling its aid to Gaza, with an additional 20 million pounds, or about $29 million, going toward rebuilding damaged homes and helping the injured.

The cease-fire remained shaky as drones buzzed overhead Sunday. Hamas militants fired 16 rockets before their Gaza leaders announced their own cease-fire. Plumes of smoke from an Israeli missile also rose over Gaza City's outskirts in the afternoon, and Israeli snipers blocked access through the Strip's main north-south road.

Around 50,000 Gazans sought refuge in U.N. compounds and schools converted into shelters throughout Israel's military operation. It is not clear how many of them remain homeless.

In an initial indication of damage, Gaza municipal officials said a first count showed some 20,000 residential and government buildings were severely damaged and another 4,000 destroyed. Some 50 of the U.N.'s 220 schools, clinics and warehouses were battered in shelling and crossfire.

Pakistan vows to keep schools open despite threats: minister

KARACHI (AFP) – Pakistan will keep schools open in the troubled northwestern Swat valley despite a ban on girls issued by the local Taliban, a minister pledged Sunday.

It follows a threat last month by a local Taliban commander to kill any girls attending classes after January 15, and to blow up schools where they are enrolled.

Officials said last week that, as a result of the threat, about 400 private schools were unlikely to open their doors after the winter holidays, depriving tens of thousands of students of an education.

But Pakistan's information minister Sherry Rehman vowed to keep open all girls schools in Swat and North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

"From March 1, all closed schools in Swat and NWFP will be reopened after the winter break," Rehman told reporters in the southern city of Karachi.

"The non-state actors are challenging the writ of the government in the name of Sharia, but Islam does not allow to close down women's schools," Rehman said, pledging to provide full security.

The scenic area of snow-capped mountains, once a popular tourist resort, has been rocked by a violent campaign for Islamic Sharia law being waged by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who has links to Pakistan's Taliban movement.

His followers have blown up 168 schools, including 104 for girls, since security forces launched an operation against militants in the region in 2007, an education ministry official told AFP last week.

The valley has more than 600 state-run schools, in addition to the 400 private schools.

Two Pakistani soldiers, 14 Taliban, killed in clash

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani security forces, backed by artillery and tanks, have killed 14 Taliban insurgents in heavy fighting in the Mohmand region on the Afghan border, a government official said on Sunday.

Pakistan is struggling to stem Islamist militant influence and violence in the northwest as it keeps a wary eye on its eastern border with India after militant attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai led to a spike in tension between the neighbors.

The latest fighting in the northwest broke out Saturday evening when militants attacked troops conducting searches.

"They launched the attack from a hideout. Our troops responded quickly and destroyed it and killed 14 miscreants," Miraj Khan, a government official in the region, told Reuters.

Two paramilitary soldiers were killed in the clash that went on for several hours, he said.

Pakistani security have recently stepped up their operations in Mohmand, which is to the north of the city of Peshawar, to fight al Qaeda and Taliban militants fleeing a military offensive in the neighboring Bajaur region, to the north.

Last week, more than 600 militants, many from Afghanistan, attacked a military camp and two nearby checkposts in the region and six soldiers and 40 militants were killed, the military said.

The United States and Afghanistan have for years urged Pakistan to eliminate militant bases in lawless ethnic Pashtun tribal regions on the border from where Taliban infiltrate into Afghanistan to fight U.S.-led forces.

Intensified Pakistani efforts against the militants has led to what some officials call reverse infiltration, with some Taliban coming back into Pakistan to protect their rear bases from the Pakistani military.

Israel pulling out of Gaza; Hamas ceases fire

By IBRAHIM BARZAK and CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writers

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli troops, some smiling and dancing, began to withdraw from Gaza Sunday after their government and Hamas militants declared an end to a three-week war. But neither side achieved long-term goals, and the burden of consolidating the fragile calm fell to world leaders.

The truce brought relief to Gaza's citizens, who took stock of the devastation in relative safety for the first time since Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27. And it brought more trauma, as rescue workers in surgical masks ventured into what were once no-go areas and pulled 100 bodies from buildings pulverized by bombs.

"We've pulled out my nephew, but I don't know how many are still under there," Zayed Hadar said as he sifted through the rubble of his flattened home in the northern town of Jebaliya.

Tension eased in southern Israel, the target of Palestinian rocket fire, even though Hamas launched nearly 20 rockets in a final salvo before announcing a cease-fire. Three Israelis were lightly wounded, while two Palestinians were killed in last-minute fighting, medics said.

Israel and Hamas do not recognize each other and ended up separately declaring cease-fires 12 hours apart after strenuous efforts by Egyptian mediators to get an agreement. Israel first announced a unilateral cease-fire that took effect early Sunday, with Hamas initially vowing to keep fighting until all troops left Gaza. Later Sunday, Hamas also said it would hold its fire to give Israeli forces time to pull out.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his country had no desire to stay in Gaza, a Mediterranean strip of 1.4 million people that was vacated by Israel in 2005 even though Gaza's airspace, coastal waters and border crossings remained under Israeli control.

"We didn't set out to conquer Gaza. We didn't set out to control Gaza. We don't want to remain in Gaza, and we intend on leaving Gaza as fast as possible," Olmert said at a dinner in Jerusalem with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Spain.

A swift withdrawal would reduce the likelihood of clashes between militants and Israeli troops that could rupture the truce.

Despite losses suffered, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh claimed "a heavenly victory" in remarks broadcast on Al-Jazeera Arabic news channel.

The world welcomed the apparent end to the latest round of fighting in the Middle East. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged a quick influx of humanitarian aid to the isolated enclave, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — in the final days of her tenure — said a cease-fire must be durable.

Iran, which has supplied rockets to Hamas, said a key to calm is the opening of border crossings that Israel and Egypt have kept virtually sealed since the militant group staged a violent takeover of Gaza in 2007 from forces of the rival Fatah faction, headed by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The comment by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was a reminder that the tiny coastal territory is just one piece of a larger conflict between Israel and regional enemies.

In Egypt, European and Arab leaders were seeking a long-term deal to solidify the truce. Delivering humanitarian aid to rebuild Gaza, opening its borders and choking off the flow of weapons into Gaza through tunnels under the 8-mile Gaza-Egypt border and at sea — perhaps with an international naval force — emerged as key goals from their summit at the Sinai desert resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

The gathering, however, failed to deliver specifics on international monitors to stop weapons from reaching Gaza's Hamas rulers. Israel wants monitors, but Egypt has refused to have them on its side of the border.

The Israeli military warned that the next few days were critical and that any Hamas attacks would be met with harsh retaliation.

"Right now the operation hasn't ended," Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel said. "It has just transitioned to a new phase, to hold fire. To give a chance to a cease-fire to take over and end this operation."

Israeli soldiers danced on top of a tank and gave "V" for victory signs as they pulled out of Gaza, but the war moved to a close on an ambiguous note.

Israel emerged as the winner on the battlefield. But its chief goals — a permanent end to rocket attacks on Israel and weapons smuggling into Gaza — will require hard diplomacy and sustained international cooperation to achieve.

Hamas, meanwhile, lost hundreds of fighters and failed to turn Gaza into a graveyard for masses of Israeli troops, as it had promised. It hopes that its survival will boost its standing among Arab supporters as a foe, as well as righteous victim, of the Jewish state.

While both sides put their best spin on the conflict's seeming conclusion, noncombatants were the biggest losers. More than half of the 1,259 slain Palestinians were civilians, according to medics, human rights groups and the U.N.

Aid groups sought to funnel more supplies to hospitals and food distribution sites from Egyptian and Israeli border crossings.

At least 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers, were killed, according to Israel. Hamas fired hundreds of rockets at southern Israel, intensifying the fear of hundreds of thousands of people who had lived under the threat for years.

"We did a good job. Now we're going home," an Israeli soldier told Israeli television. His name was not released in line with military restrictions on the release of information. Smiling infantry soldiers walked toward the border in the rain, and a rainbow emerged from the clouds behind them.

The war had overwhelming popular support in Israel, a democracy where, in contrast, opinion was sharply divided over the 2006 war against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Israel was condemned in street demonstrations around the world for the heavy toll on Palestinian civilians, and ties with the United Nations deteriorated after U.N. facilities were hit during Israeli attacks.

Hamas' deputy leader, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said on Syrian television that the cease-fire would give Israel time to withdraw and open crossings to allow aid into Gaza.

The truce took effect ahead of Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama as president. Obama has said Mideast peace will be a priority for his administration even as it grapples with a global economic crisis. Israel also holds elections next month.

Leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey and the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, attended the summit in Egypt.

Israel did not send a representative. Hamas, shunned internationally as a terrorist organization, was not invited. However, any arrangement to open Gaza's borders for trade would likely need Hamas acquiescence.

"We must put an end to the arms traffic," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "Several of our countries have proposed ... to make available to Israel and Egypt all the technical, diplomatic and military — notably naval — means to help stop weapons smuggling into Gaza."

Sarkozy, joined by other European leaders, later traveled to Jerusalem for a working dinner with Olmert.

In Gaza, bulldozers shoved aside rubble while men tugged at piles of masonry with their hands and plucked decomposing bodies from the debris. People recovered televisions and anything else of value from piles of debris, or loaded vans and donkey carts with belongings and ventured home.

In the southern town of Rafah, where Israel bombed dozens of smuggling tunnels, construction worker Abdel Ibn-Taha rejoiced over the truce. "We're tired," he said.

In the Israeli town of Sderot, battered by Palestinian rockets from Gaza, residents went back to their usual routines. One man sat on a sidewalk in the sunshine, eating a chicken sandwich.

"We want it quiet here," said 65-year-old Yoav Peled. "And if it isn't, our army is ready to continue."