Israel is a "reality" and "there will remain a state called Israel, this is a matter of 
fact," Hamas leader abroad Khaled Mashaal said in an interview to Reuters on Wednesday. 
"The problem is not that there is an entity called Israel," he said. "The problem is that 
the Palestinian state is non-existent." According to the Reuters report, Mashaal said 
Hamas would defy Western sanctions and refuse to consider formally recognizing Israel 
until its demand for a Palestinian state was met. Mashaal reiterated Hamas's demands for 
the creation of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem 
and that Israel accept the right of Palestinian refugees to return to homes lost in the 
1967 War and before.  

In other news, dozens of students blocked traffic at the Glilot junction and at the 
entrance to Jerusalem on Wednesday as colleges across the country went on strike to 
protest expected increases to tuition.  Students asked passing motorists to contribute a 
shekel each to the higher education budget, in an effort to emphasize the budget deficit. 
Students' Union Secretary General Salam Sharkiya said hundreds of drivers contributed to 
the cause.  The protesters were students from 27 colleges across Israel.  The national 
student movement expressed its support for the teachers' unions' protests. Teachers across 
the country on Wednesday canceled classes for grades 1 and 2, and 11 and 12. The strike is 
part of the teachers' unions' battle with the treasury for a new collective wage deal.  
The treasury responded by describing the strike as "unsurprising, and done for reasons 
only known to the teachers themselves."