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Olmert Wins Israel Vote, Urges Palestinians to Talk
 Israel's Ehud Olmert won election to succeed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and challenged Palestinians to restart long-frozen peace talks, saying he will act unilaterally to fix his nation's borders if they don't. (Bloomberg)
Final Tally
Kadima 29 seats
Labor 20
Likud 12
Shas 12
Yisrael Beitenu 11
NU/NRP 9
Arab parties 9
Pensioners 7
United Torah 6
Meretz 5
Hamas Rejects Talk of Recognizing Israel
 Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ruled out any talk of the Hamas-led government he heads recognizing Israel or ending the fight against the Jewish state until Israel commits to ["a total Israeli withdrawal from all the land occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem; the release of all our prisoners; the removal of all settlers from all settlements; and recognition of the right of all refugees to return.withdrawing from Palestinian land."] In a column that appeared in London's Guardian newspaper on Friday, Haniyeh said "we have every right to respond with all available means" if Israel continues to launch attacks and to impose "sanctions" on Palestinians. Haniyeh's column, which lists his email address as ihaniyyeh@hotmail.com, was published one day after four Israelis were killed in a suicide bombing by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. (Pravda)
UN Awaits Israeli Officers?
by Roee Nahmias
 The Israeli Foreign Ministry has published for the first time an announcement on its website urging IDF and police officers to apply for vacancies at the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the United Nations Secretariat in New York. The positions are intended for standing officers who hold the ranks of captain to colonel, or alternatively for comparable ranks in the police service. (Ynet News)
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U.S. Bans Contacts with Hamas-Led Government
by Paul Eckert
 The U.S. ordered its diplomats and contractors to cut off contacts with Palestinian ministries after a Hamas-led government was sworn in, the State Department said. The no-contact policy was more sweeping than many had expected because it applies not just to Hamas members but to independents and technocrats in the new government. Contacts will still be permitted with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and non-Hamas members of the Palestinian parliament, officials said. (Reuters/Scotsman-UK)
Palestinians Fire First Katyusha from Gaza to Israel
by Amos Harel and Michal Greenberg
Palestinians have for the first time fired a Katyusha rocket, a much longer-range projectile than the Qassam, from the Gaza Strip into Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said. The army is checking whether the 122-mm. rocket, which landed without exploding in an open area south of Ashkelon, is of Iranian manufacture. (Ha'aretz)
UN Report Refutes PA Allegations on Environmental Damage in Gaza
by Herb Keinon
Last July, just before disengagement, Yousef Abu Safiyya, head of the PA's Environment Quality Authority, charged that Israel buried 50,000 tons of waste in Gush Katif and was polluting water wells and spoiling crops with concentrated sewage. However, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) issued a report last week that disputed these allegations and gave "the Gaza pullout an environmental clean bill of health." (Jerusalem Post)
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