Israel vows to continue war on Gaza

Israel has warned that the onslaught in the Gaza Strip could last for "weeks" as the fourth consecutive day of aerial attacks targeted several Hamas government buildings.

Around 350 people have been killed, many of them civilians, and local hospitals have warned they are unable to cope with any more casualties.

Palestinian medical workers said at least 10 people had died in the latest raids on Tuesday, with security guards and civilians among those killed.

But Israel said there would be no let up until the threat of Palestinian rockets attacks from the Gaza Strip had been removed.

"There is no room for a ceasefire," Meir Sheetrit, Israel's interior minister, said.

"The government is determined to remove the threat of [rocket] fire on the south.

"Therefore the Israeli army must not stop the operation before breaking the will of Palestinians, of Hamas, to continue to fire at Israel."

Four Israeli citizens have been killed by missiles fired from Palestinian positions since the offensive began on Saturday.

Military preparations

The Israeli army has been massing infantry and armoured forces along the border amid increasing fears that a ground invasion is planned.

Matan Vilnai, Israel's deputy defence minister, said the military "has made preparations for some long weeks of action".

On Monday, areas of the border were declared "closed military zones" and thousands of reservists have been called up by the Israeli military.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Gaza City, said that there was little the residents of the strip could do to prepare for any possible ground assault.

"In a city that is so densely-populated, a ground offensive would mean urban warfare, street-to-street fighting ... leaving many Palestinians in the crossfire," he said.

"Unlike other conflict zones where there is the possibility to flee the war zone, Gaza itself has become the war zone. There is nowhere for the population to go, they are in the middle of all these attacks."

Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, has added his voice to calls for an end to the violence.

Speaking at UN headquarters in New York on Monday, he said both sides should end the fighting and said regional powers should do more to help resolve the crisis.

"All this must stop," Ban told a press conference.

"Both Israel and Hamas must halt their acts of violence and take all necessary measures to avoid civilian casualties. A ceasefire must be declared immediately. They must also curb their inflammatory rhetoric."

Hamas blamed

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, said the Israeli offensive was aimed at Hamas and not the Palestinian people, urging civilians to leave for safer places away from places close to Hamas infrastructure.

"We tried to avoid this. You know that Israel accepted the truce that was initiated by the Egyptians in order to create peace and quiet. We adopted the truce. What we got in return? We got in return daily attacks, we got in return smuggling of weapons to Gaza Strip with long-range [capabilities]," she said.

Support for Israel came from the US, with the White House saying Hamas must halt cross-border rocket fire.

"In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire," Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman said.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

UNC Religion Professor Given Award By Iran

By Cami Marshall

Chapel Hill, NC -- A University of North Carolina religion professor took pause when he learned his academic work would be honored by the government of Iran.

UNC-Chapel Hill professor Carl Ernst is a scholar of Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam. Carl W. Ernst (born 1950) is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Islamic studies at the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.He is also the director of the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations.
Ernst received his A.B. in comparative religion at Stanford University in 1973, and his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1981.

He wrote a book widely used in Iranian universities on a 12th-century Sufi poet and has traveled extensively in the Middle Eastern country. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports Ernst will accept the Farabi International Award during a ceremony in Iran on Saturday, but he decided to do so only after consulting the university's top leaders.

Ernst's recent book, Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World (UNC Press, 2003), has received several international awards, including the 2004 Bashrahil Prize for Outstanding Cultural Achievement.

Recipients are chosen by the government ministry of science, research and technology. But the plaques are handed out by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Like most Americans, Ernst cringes at the president's politics.

Chancellor Holden Thorp understood the dilemma. Thorp said Ernst told him it looked like an academic honor but knew politics can come into play. Ernst was in Iran earlier this month for a conference and said he received "an incredibly enthusiastic response" when he made a strong plea for improved academic and cultural relations between Iran and the U.S. "So it would have looked strange if I declined an academic award," he said.

Ernst will be honored for his 1996 book on Ruzbihan Baqli, the 12th-century poet born in what is now Iran. The book has twice been translated into Persian.

Two other U.S. academics also will be honored: William Chittick, a religion scholar at the State University of New York at Stony Brook; and Miriam Galston, a lawyer at George Washington University.

Source : Associated Press