GAZA: Has Hamas unofficially imposed Islamic dress code on students?

Educators in the Gaza Strip have begun enforcing an unofficial decree by the Hamas leadership requiring high school girls to wear Islamic dress, despite Hamas Education Minister Muhammad Asqoul denying such a policy as recently as two days ago, Arab news outlets reported.

"Palestinian society is committed by nature and does not need decrees to force it to be so," Asqoul said, according to a front-page report by Qays Safadi in the left-leaning Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar (Arabic link). Asqoul went on to describe the media furor surrounding the decision as a "tempest in a teapot."

But, as Safadi points out, Asqoul's comments directly contradict the signs posted outside schools informing girls that this year they are required to wear dark blue robes, a white headscarf and black or white shoes.

MIDDLE EAST: Daily headlines from Gaza, Israel, Iran in your mailbox

The Los Angeles Times issues a free daily e-mail newsletter with the latest headlines from the Middle East and the Muslim world.

It includes stories from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as links to articles about the frictions and encounters between Islam and the West in the United States and Europe.

The newsletter also includes links to the latest Times editorials and opinion pieces about the Middle East, Islam and national security.

You can subscribe by logging in or registering at the website here, clicking on the box for "L.A. Times updates," and then clicking on the "World: Mideast" box.

— Los Angeles Times staff

IRAN: For Obama, the road to Tehran leads through Jerusalem

Barely noted in the reports about Monday's meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a revealing exchange toward the end of the question-and-answer session with a small group of reporters.

The president was asked whether he agreed with Netanyahu's view that dismantling Iran's nuclear program and getting it stop supporting militant groups in the Levant was the first step toward a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

Obama said while the charged atmosphere in the Middle East makes it tough for Israel to negotiate with its rivals, he viewed the situation the other way around. 

Read the little-cited quotes below:

GAZA: Hamas blamed for executions

Human Rights Watch has condemned the radical group Hamas, saying the group killed, tortured and maimed at least 32 Palestinian political opponents and suspected collaborators during the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip in January.

In a new 26-page report, "Under Cover of War: Hamas Political Violence in Gaza," the rights organization claims that between Dec. 27, 2008, and Jan. 18, 2009, Hamas security forces executed 18 men, most believed to have been Israeli collaborators. Another 14 men, many of them alleged political opponents, have been killed since late January.

“During Israel’s attack on Gaza, Hamas moved violently against its political opponents and those deemed collaborators with Israeli forces,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “The unlawful arrests, torture and killings in detention continued even after the fighting stopped, mocking Hamas’ claims to uphold the law.”

Read the full report here.

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Hamas militants. Credit: Reuters

EGYPT: Arrest of alleged Hezbollah agents in Cairo stirs skepticism

Skepticism surrounded Egypt's announcement this week of the arrest of a group with alleged ties to the Lebanese Shiite Muslim organization Hezbollah. 

Authorities accused detainees of plotting terrorism operations in Egypt and spreading Shiite thought in the predominantly Sunni Muslim society. 

The announcement of the arrest comes at a time of regional polarization between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, on the one hand, and Syria and Shiite Iran on the other. 

For some analysts, it is a new stage in government propaganda aimed at undermining popular Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran, the group's patron, as threats to Egypt’s national security.

“Every now and then, they announce the arrest of a Hamas-tied, Shiite, protestant, Marxist group with links to al-Qaeda. These are just lies. Innocent people are being arrested unfairly and without any reason except the regime’s desire to show that it serves the country,” wrote Waheed Safwat on the website of the newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm.

ISRAEL: 1,000 days of captivity for Shalit

Hundreds of people came to Jerusalem on Saturday evening to mark the 1,000th day since Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. In recent weeks, his family had joined the protest tent already manned for months by volunteers and sat up the block from the residence of the prime minister, a constant reminder to Ehud Olmert of his unfinished business as he finishes his term.

Olmert's final push to secure a deal with Hamas for Shalit's freedom in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners fell through, amid a bitter public debate in Israel over the price of such an exchange. As mediators and negotiators shuttled back and forth between Cairo, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in an attempt to reach agreement in the last few days of the incumbent government, time -- often a liquid concept in the region -- was pressing.

SYRIA: Damascus getting courted from all sides

The Syrians know what they want: to have their cake and eat it too.

The government in Damascus wants to enjoy good relations with moderate Arab regimes and Western powers while conserving its strong ties with Iran and non-state actors like Hamas and Hezbollah, analysts say. 

But what do the Americans want in the Middle East?

From the point of view of Arab observers, the U.S. policy in the region has been inconsistent .

One day, it’s waging war in Iraq. Another day, it is stating support for the creation of a Palestinian state while approving of Israeli politicians who don’t seem to want it.

Then lately, with President Obama in office, it is engaging with the Syrians to woo them away from the influence of the Iranians.

EGYPT: Donors promise almost $5 billion for Palestinians

In a new attempt to strengthen its position as a key player in the region, Egypt today hosted an international donors conference for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the 22-day Israeli incursion that battered the seaside Palestinian enclave.

More than 70 countries and international organizations convened in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh and pledged $4.48 billion to rebuild Gaza. The Palestinian Authority had only requested about $3 billion. Money, however, is not the problem. Instead, the volatility of the situation in Hamas-controlled Gaza, internal divisions among Palestinians and the ascendancy of a right-wing government in Israel may jeopardize reconstruction efforts.

In their final statement, participants called for a permanent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and reconciliation among rival Palestinians factions as "requisites for any successful reconstruction effort." Participants also stressed the need for Israel to lift its blockade for an "immediate, unconditional and sustained reopening" of Israel’s crossings with Gaza.

EGYPT: Palestinian reconciliation talks kick off in Cairo

Reconciliation talks between Hamas, Fatah and smaller Palestinian factions began Thursday in Cairo amid hopes for an agreement on a national unity government after nearly two years of bloodshed and political impasse that have slowed progress in the wider Arab-Israeli conflict.

In negotiations leading to the talks, Fatah and Hamas agreed to stop media smear campaigns against each other and to release prisoners held by both sides. "A certain number of detainees will be freed right at the beginning of the dialogue," according to a joint statement by Azzam Ahmed, leader of the Fatah bloc in the Palestinian parliament, and Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official.

SYRIA: U.S. opens up to Damascus

Damascus has long been accused of waiting out the Bush administration in hopes of getting a better diplomatic atmosphere under a new American presidency. And indeed, since President Obama took over from Bush in January, the tide seems to be turning favorably for Syria.

Two delegations from the U.S. Congress have already visited Syria. Later this week, Sen. John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is expected in Damascus.

The U.S. is certainly sending positive messages to the country treated by the previous administration as an associate member of the “axis of evil,” along with such U.S. rivals as Iran and North Korea.

Obama has offered to engage in dialogue with Iran and Syria, breaking from the ways of Bush, who imposed economic sanctions on Damascus accusing it of fostering terrorism in Iraq, Israel and Lebanon.