TEL AVIV – Psychological warfare is shaping up to be a vital component of Hamas fight against Israel.

In an effort to increase pressure on Israel to agree to a prisoner swap in return for the freedom of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who has been held by Hamas since his capture in 2006, the militant group released an animated video on Sunday.

The video depicts the aging of Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, as Israeli politicians continue to promise his son's return.

VIDEO: Hamas video shows family of captured soldier

In the three-minute video, Noam Shalit is shown mournfully holding a framed picture of his son as he walks down a deserted street lined with political billboards. One billboard shows an image of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with a caption saying, "I promise to find out the fate of Gilad Shalit."

Noam keeps walking while a soundtrack plays with his son's voice saying, "To my father, mother I send you from prison my warmest regards. I miss you all." He then passes by another poster showing a picture of the current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a caption saying, "I promise to release Gilad Shalit."

He then stops and finds a newspaper in a trash can with a picture of his son on the front page along with another captured soldier, Ron Arad, who is widely believed to have died in captivity. The newspaper advertises a cash money reward for any information about the two missing soldiers.  At this point Noam's figure transforms into an old man walking with a cane.

Finally the father sits down at a bus stop, a van stops near him and begins unloading a coffin wrapped in an Israeli flag. He stands up and a chilling scream is heard. The video ends with Noam waking from this nightmare and a Hebrew caption saying, "There is still hope."

The goal of the video is clear – to mobilize the Israeli public to put pressure on their political leaders to make a prisoner swap deal with Hamas to ensure Gilad Shalit's release.

But, predictably, the video has received harsh criticism from Israelis – especially Noam Shalit.

"It's best if Hamas leaders would focus less on videos and presentations and would be more concerned about the interests of their prisoners and the public in Gaza," Noam Shalit told the popular Israeli Internet site Ynet.com.

Shimshon Liebman, the leader the campaign to free Gilad Shalit, criticized the video and said Hamas should, "Stop playing with people, be brave enough to do the right thing and you'll get hundreds of prisoners back."

Likewise, the Israeli government dismissed the video as offensive. "For months Hamas has refused to respond to the humanitarian proposals of the German mediator. With the release of this disgraceful video, designed to play on the pain of the Shalit family, Hamas is demonstrating before the entire world its terrorist and hateful character," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

 TEL AVIV – Today marks the beginning of Remembrance Day here in Israel, a day that is followed by the Independence celebrations marking 62 years since Israel's establishment in 1948.

National Remembrance Day ceremonies are taking place all across Israel, but there is one alternative ceremony that took place in Tel Aviv that aims to see things in a different light.

Mano Loeb grew on a kibbutz where he was taught the importance of contributing to the country.  He was drafted in 1985 and ended up serving in Nablus during the first Intifada. This encounter with the occupation caused Loab to refuse to serve on moral grounds.

Today Loeb is helping bring Palestinians and Israelis together on a day that is seen by most Israelis as a sacred day that cannot be shared. "We believe the traditional way of remembering the dead contributes to the continuation of the violence and for the justification for violence on the Israeli side. We want to show that the pain and grievance is universal and belongs to both Israelis and Palestinians."

Having Palestinian speakers talk about their losses is unheard in the traditional ceremonies across Israel. Usually the ceremonies include reading out of the dead soldiers' names, listening to their personal heroic acts and performances by Israeli singers singing sad songs.

Here at the alternative ceremony run by 'Combatants for Peace' the Palestinian side is heard loud and clear. This organization was established in 2005 and brings both sides of the conflict together. From the Israeli side you can find people who served in the military and on the Palestinian side there are people who took part in the violent struggle against the Israeli Army.  Loab told me that both side found out it was time to break the cycle of violence and bloodshed.

Seeking 'true balance'
Loab noted: "Remembrance Day here is very one sided, it portraits Israelis as the side that sacrificed its most beloved in order for us to have a country and have a good life. Here we show both sides, also the Palestinian side in a human way with a true balance."

Wael Salamah is from the West Bank town of Anata, he belonged to the Fatah resistant movement and took part in violent acts against Israel. Salamah is here tonight with a message of peace and hope: "We need to learn from the past for a better future, time is running out and we can't afford more and more victims from both sides."

Parts of the alternative ceremony were translated to Arabic, performances were sung both in Hebrew and Arabic and personal stories were read out by both sides. Loab told me that he is hopeful, that when they started these alternative ceremonies Five years ago only 200 people showed up, tonight 1,000 people are already crowded in the small theater.

The peace process will not be a big cause for celebrations tonight during the Israeli Independence celebrations.  Peace here in the Middle East looks further away than ever, Israeli and Palestinian leaders are not talking to each other and there is still no understanding on how to restart the indirect talks that has been sought by the U.S. administration.

By Paul Goldman, NBC News Producer

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel, 65 years after and the Israeli state is bowing its head in memory of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis and their accomplishers.

My 11-year-old daughter has been practicing for weeks her role at her school memorial ceremony, which took place today. She was very excited and nervous for she had to memorize a few sentences by heart and perform a short dance. Parents were invited this morning to the school gym and the ceremony started with us all standing while one of her classmates spoke about the importance of remembering the dead. Six candles were placed on a small table and were lighted up one after another, each signifying one million people killed.

The kids, all wearing black cloths, read out loud text they learned by heart, text that talked about a million and a half kids who where slaughtered, kids who will never go to school like this one and kids who will never have the same dreams and aspiration like these kids.

The educational system here in Israel is very clear and adamant about the way the Holocaust should be taught in schools. From grade one all the way to the last day of high school the narrative is clear and emphasizes the memory and the personal stories of the survivors but also recognizes the resistance and recovery in the shape of the Israeli state, which will celebrate its 62 years of independence next week. Throughout the year high school kids are taken all the way to concentration camps in Germany and Poland to stand right in the gas chambers that burned Jews. Students are always accompanied by survivors who tell them their own heroic story of survival and also try to explain why Jews were slaughtered like sheep.

Here in my daughter's school the ceremony was almost over. I was admiring and looking at her thinking to myself what in the world is my daughter thinking about while she was hearing all of the terrible atrocities, how will this shape her as a grown up. Her part went by perfectly, all the kids read out loud with a somber voice and there was a perfect silence all around from the rest of the school kids. The ceremony ended with everyone singing out the national anthem, sadness mixed with hope and a realization that the Jews' existence here symbolizes not a defeat but a victory.

I left the ceremony and was driving to work while the one-minute siren started. This siren is heard throughout Israel and everybody stands for a minute of silence. The siren caught me on the main highway to Tel Aviv and I was a bit worried about stopping in the middle of the highway. At 10 o'clock the siren blared out loud and clear and, like the rest of the drivers, I stopped my car in the middle of the highway and got out.

By Paul Goldman, NBC News
TEL AVIV - As time goes by more details are emerging concerning the mysterious assassination in Dubai of Mahmoud al- Mabhouh, a top Hamas militant.

Dubai police showed closed-circuit video of the alleged killers arriving at the airport, checking into different hotels, shopping at a mall and staking out Mabhouh's hotel room.

The hit squad was long gone by the time the Dubai police found Mabhouh's body, leaving the police with the painstaking job of sifting through hours of security camera footage trying to track down the killers.

Dubai police identified 11 suspects holding British, Irish, German and French passports, and once the passport photos reached worldwide publication a few people here in Israel woke up to a new reality.

At least seven people who live in Israel share names with suspects identified by Dubai police. It turns out that whatever group masterminded the assassination apparently stole their identities. These seven Britons suddenly found themselves enveloped in the world of espionage and murder. The newspaper headlines are covered with reactions by these Israelis: "I'm angry, upset and scared" said Melvyn Adam Mildiner, a British national living in Beit Shemesh. He added, "I went to bed with pneumonia and woke up a murderer."

Paul Keely lives in a kibbutz called Nachshonim and told us over the phone: "I'm  waiting for somebody to tell me what's happening, I just want my life back."

The British citizens thrust into the center of an international murder plot have spoken of their shock, anger and fear. ITV's Phil Reay Smith reports.

 TEL AVIV – Israel's Ben Gurion Airport launched a new biometric security system for outbound airline passengers Tuesday, less than two weeks after the failed Christmas Day bombing of a flight bound for Detroit.  

Officials said the timing was purely coincidental.

Jack Guez / AFP - Getty Images

Passengers check in using a new security machine as part of measures to increase security at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on Tuesday.Â

The new system, called UNIPASS, is located at the entrance to the arrival terminal at Ben Gurion and is designed to enable passengers to perform the security check themselves.

While that may sound alarming at first blush, officials I met at the airport Wednesday assured me that the new technology is by no means a sign of them letting down their guard.

On the contrary, they said, it will make one of the most secure air systems in the world even stronger. 

Anyone who has passed through Ben Gurion airport in the past would clearly remember the grueling questions and the careful hand-checking of their luggage. No wonder passengers are asked to arrive three hours prior to the flight.

The new system is expected to streamline the process. 

One card to clear security
It took me just five minutes to register for the UNIPASS. I handed over my passport and was told to stand still while cameras took my picture. I was then told to place my finger on a glass surface for a fingerprint. The airport officials handed me my personalized UNIPASS smartcard, which I will now use every time I leave the country.

So the next time I have a flight, I can go straight to a security stand where I will swipe my UNIPASS smartcard and my passport through a machine. I'll also stand in front of a special camera for facial recognition and then place my finger on a machine that does fingerprint scans.

Once the computer confirms the biometric match, a touch screen will ask me a series of security questions that are usually asked by airport security personnel such as, "Did you pack your luggage by yourself?" 

There will be security guards standing by to follow-up if there are any incorrect answers or if the system reports a problem.

While the UNIPASS system, developed by the Israeli Airport Authority, is initially being tested on El Al Frequent Flyer Club members, officials expect to expand the program gradually to include all departing passengers, whether they are Israeli citizens or tourists, who register voluntarily.  

After the initial security check, the smartcard will be swiped again at the luggage X-ray machine and at the check-in counter. From there it will be, "Bon Voyage."

TEL AVIV – You read about African refugees all the time in newspaper headlines: students jailed in Eritrea, maimed in Somalia, beaten in Sudan, but who pays attention? It's so far away.

They pop up again in news reports along the route – rotting for years in refugee camps from which they finally escape, seeking work in Egypt where they are attacked, crossing the Sinai desert where Bedouin abuse the men and rape the girls. Some die at the very last moment, shot dead by Egyptian soldiers on Israel's border. And finally the young survivors reach their last hope for refuge, the end of the line: the Holy Land.

Israel would throw them out, if it could. But thanks to the law and social pressure, around 20,000 Africans, mostly young men aged between 20 and 30, get a last chance when they arrive here.

And slowly life is improving for them. They've moved on from a 150 jammed into one large room in south Tel Aviv to 10 in a small room, living off charity and odd jobs. Individuals help them and aid groups try to provide legal advice and teach them English, Hebrew and math.

Now six of them are back in the news, and this time they do get my attention. Zumharat, Ephraim and Yakilu from Eritrea, Muhalidin and Adam from Sudan, Daher from Somalia, were recently profiled in a story for Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper and could be seen forcing a smile for a photographer. Somehow they are putting themselves through college at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, a private Israeli university. 

Zumharat got his chance while cleaning table at IDC's cafeteria. "A business lecturer sat down for coffee," he said, "and asked me why I was working instead of studying." That brief encounter with a sympathetic man made Zumharat take stock: why indeed?

He registered to study communications. The school pays half his tuition, and he works 12 hours a day to pay the rest, as well as rent, food and transport. It was the same for all of the students – evenings and nights cleaning houses, sweeping floors, washing dishes and days studying. I thought to myself, it's all I can do to get my son to tidy his bedroom.

"We hate being dependent on other people," Ephraim said. "We came here because of genocide, or political instability, or to escape a totalitarian regime. We didn't come here in search of a better life, but to preserve life itself."

Today two of them are helped by Israelis who have pooled resources to pay their tuition. But otherwise, the rest of the group are on their own: survivors thirsting for education and a future, yearning for home, making the best of a lousy lot.

Each dreams of finding the scattered remnants of their families; each wants to return home as proud graduates and help rebuild his shattered nation.

Their horizon is limited to three months though, which is the length of their renewable visas. Israel, afraid that thousands more refugees will arrive, doesn't want to encourage them.

But Israel shouldn't worry, promises Muhalidin, we don't want to stay: "Every one of us dreams of returning home," he said, smiling wanly. "Advanced education is one of the best things Israel can do for us. An education will give us the promise of a better future, it will give us hope."

They're only six out of thousands. Their stories may inspire other refugees to try to go to school. Israel is still deciding whether to let them stay or not, but while they are here has decided to treat them decently.

And inadequate as it may seem, the little that Israel is doing for these young North Africans is much more than the North African countries through which they passed: they didn't help at all.

TEL AVIV – A Palestinian student who was deported from the West Bank will not be allowed to finish her studies at Bethlehem University, according to a decision made by Israel's Supreme Court last week. 

Berlanty Azzam, 22, was on track to finish her degree in business management later this month. But she was stopped on Oct. 28 at a routine Israeli checkpoint near Ramallah in the West Bank, on her way to a job interview.  

When the Israeli guard noticed Gaza City on her ID card, she was immediately arrested for being in the West Bank without permission.Within hours, according to her attorney, Yadin Elam, she was blindfolded, handcuffed, and removed to Gaza by force – without any kind of hearing or access to a lawyer before she was deported. (Her story was reported in the World Blog several weeks ago, "A Gazan student's dream hangs in the balance." ) 

Azzam admits that she did not have the required permission to study in the West Bank – something that has been increasingly difficult for Gazans to obtain since Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement, took over Gaza in 2007 and the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that students from Gaza had to obtain a permit. 

But, according to her lawyer, those permits didn't exist when she initially enrolled in Bethlehem University back in 2005. At that time, Azzam received a four-day permit to enter Israel, traveled to Bethlehem to enroll and never went back to Gaza. She also said that she repeatedly tried to get permit-application forms, without success.

Tara Todras-whitehill / AP

Berlanty Azzam, a Palestinian student talks during an interview in Gaza CIty on Nov. 12.Â

Since she was deported, Azzam has been in Gaza while Gisha, an Israeli non-profit organization, took her case to Israel's courts. She was holding out hope that Israel's High Court would decide in her favor and was very disappointed at their final decision. 

"I am very sad today, the Israelis punished me because I am from Gaza, all what I wanted is to have my university degree," she said in a phone interview.

Israel said that it had no security concerns about Azzam, but that since she was in the West Bank illegally, they had no choice but to remove her. The judges said that since she was in the West Bank without a valid student pass, it left "the court no choice but to rule that she stayed in the West Bank illegally. Her schooling is not a sufficient reason for this court to rule in favor of her return," according to Ynetnews.com.

On the telephone, Azzam kept asking "Why?" and said she had been optimistic that she would be allowed to finish her studies. She will not be allowed to appeal the decision.

"We are disappointed that Israel's High Court of Justice chose to accept the state's refusal to allow Berlanty to complete her degree, despite the fact that the state repeatedly failed to provide any real evidence for their claims," said Keren Tamir, a spokesperson for Gisha, the human rights organization that brought her case to court.

"It raises a lot of questions about the Israeli insistence on preventing Palestinian young people, against whom it makes no security claims whatsoever, from accessing higher education," added Tamir.

Meantime, Bethlehem University is looking for a way to let her Azzam finish her bachelor's degree remotely, but has made no decisions yet.

 TEL AVIV – Israelis this week were shocked to hear that starting in January 2010, their monthly water bill will cost 40 percent more.

Being in an extremely arid climate, every school age child in Israel is constantly reminded that water scarcity is a critical national issue. The slogan "Every Drop Counts" is repeated over and over in schools and by the media. Water supplies have gotten so low that now Israelis will not only need to stop watering their gardens and take shorter showers, but will also have to pay more for every drop.

VIDEO: In Israel 'every drop counts'

But the issue has created a great catalyst for private Israeli companies to develop innovative ways to recycle wastewater, desalinate water and irrigate more efficiently.

The Water Technologies, Renewable Energy and Environmental Control (WATEC) exhibition in Tel Aviv this week showcased companies from all over the world working on water issues.

The exhibition had companies ranging from the makers of huge water valves to educational organizations like the Israeli Ein Shemer Greenhouse facility. The facility invites school kids, researchers and businessmen to build environmental projects emphasizing the need to educate the next generation. 

A special hall was dedicated to hi-tech companies. One that caught my eye was called Emefcy that is developing innovative ways to create energy out of waste water treatment.

"We're developing a waste treatment device that will not consume any energy for treating the waste water," said Eytan Levy, Emefcy's CEO. "But will produce electricity directly from electrodes that are immersed in the waste water

Researchers predict that water, and not oil, will emerge as a major cause of conflict in the future, particularly in the Middle East. That's one reason why water in Israel is a national priority. Israel is predicting that by 2012 most of its agricultural water will come from recycled sewage. And that five years from now, when an Israeli citizen turns on their tap, most of the water, if not all, will be from desalination.

I was ready to leave the exhibition when I noticed a woman with a "KENYA" badge on. It drew my attention since I just returned from a reporting trip there. I approached the woman, Jacqueline Musyoki, to get her take on the exhibition. "Oh, I have such a headache," she said, laughing and holding her head. "All this high-tech is giving me a headache."

All she was a looking for was a simple filter that she could buy for kids in Kenya so they can filter dirt out of water often taken from unsanitary rural water holes. I sent her to the information desk looking for a product called a "life straw" which does just that. 

BETHLEHEM, West Bank – "I felt very nervous and frightened walking through the Erez Crossing today. I was forced to go back to Gaza. My family was waiting for me to return with my university degree, but I came home without carrying the dream that they were waiting for," said Berlanty Azzam, a 22-year-old woman from Gaza, in a phone interview Tuesday.

Azzam has been a student at Bethlehem University since 2005. Four years later and just two months shy of completing her degree in business management, Azzam was stopped on Oct. 28 at a routine Israeli checkpoint near Ramallah, in the West Bank, on her way to a job interview.  

When the Israeli guard noticed Gaza City on her ID card, she was immediately arrested for being in the West Bank without permission. Within hours, according to her attorney, Yadin Elam, she was blindfolded, handcuffed, and removed to Gaza by force – without any kind of hearing or access to a lawyer before she was deported.  

Tara Todras-whitehill / AP

Berlanty Azzam, a Palestinian student talks during an interview in Gaza City on Nov. 12.

Azzam admits that she did not have the required permission to study in the West Bank – something that has been increasingly difficult for Gazans to obtain since Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement, took over Gaza in 2007 and the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that students from Gaza had to obtain a permit. 

But, Elam said, those permits didn't exist when she initially enrolled in Bethlehem University back in 2005. At that time, Azzam received a four-day permit to enter Israel, traveled to Bethlehem to enroll and never went back to Gaza. She also said that she repeatedly tried to get permit-application forms, without success.

Azzam, a well-spoken, educated woman, celebrated her 22nd birthday on Monday far from the campus where she hopes to obtain her degree. She particularly wanted to study in heavily Christian Bethlehem because of her faith (she is one of an estimated 1,500-2,500 Christians living in Gaza).

The Israeli government military, Elam says, makes no claim that Azzam poses a security threat. But, according to Israel's rules, even if a student from Gaza is declared risk-free and seeks to cross to the West Bank for the sole purpose of studying, once in the West Bank, that individual may in theory decide at any moment to engage in terrorist acts; therefore, he or she is not permitted to be there.

This policy has a particularly adverse effect on students' educational aspirations since many university programs don't exist in Gaza and can only be studied in the West Bank.

Her case has drawn widespread attention in Israel and has caught the attention of the U.S. State Department. According to the Washington Post, officials from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv have made inquiries about the case with the Israeli government. 

"Berlanty, and other Palestinian students from Gaza, have the right to access Palestinian universities in the West Bank," said Sari Bashi, the executive director of Gisha, an Israeli non-profit organization that uses legal assistance to try to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians and is representing Azzam. 

"Allowing them to do so also promotes Israeli and U.S. interests in helping young people access the educational resources they need to build a better future in the region," said Bashi. "There is no security claim against Berlanty. It is not clear what Israel gains by preventing her from completing her degree."

The pressure appears to have worked: Israel's high court ordered the military to give Azzam an opportunity to challenge her removal to Gaza at an administrative hearing. The military held a hearing Tuesday on the Gaza side of the Erez Border Crossing between Israel and Gaza, attended by Azzam and her attorney.

"The army did today what it should have done that October night when Berlanty was arrested, handcuffed, blindfolded and forcibly removed to Gaza. [It] listened to what Berlanty has to say," said Elam. "We hope that they will decide the right thing and allow her to go back to her studies." 

Until her case is decided, Azzam is biding her time and hoping that she will be able to return to school soon.

"After the military hearing today, I'm optimistic about returning to Bethlehem soon to be able to achieve my family's dream of receiving a degree," Azzam said over the phone from Gaza on Tuesday night. "And so I can prove to the whole world that the degree was my main – and only – goal in the West Bank."

RISHON LEZION, Israel – By 10 a.m. on a recent morning, the line of people in an underground parking lot in this Tel Aviv suburb, was getting longer and longer. The frustration level was intensifying along with the rising temperature – it was hot and sticky with no fresh air. 

But, for many, it was a line worth waiting in. The Pitchon-Lev organization was handing out the basic needs for the upcoming Jewish New Year – Rosh Hashanah – which begins at sundown this Friday, Sept. 18 and will be observed on Saturday.

While there are some signs of hope that the global recession may be receding, for many of the people on line here, hard times are here to stay.

VIDEO: Helping Israelis celebrate Rosh Hashanah

Tal Eisenbaum, manager of the Pitchon-Lev aid center, left a cushy hi-tech career for this grueling job of helping the needy and the poor.

"I was a C.E.O of a software company, I have a third degree in marketing and I came here because of my conscience, I decided to work for a few years for the community, to feel good with myself," said Eisenbaum. "I see that I'm actually helping people and it feels good."

But the global recession has hit organizations like Pitchon-Lev hard. "Donations dropped dramatically, down 30 percent to 40 percent," Eisenbaum explained. But at the same time, the need for donations has grown. "The amount of people coming here went up 20 percent and our customers are now teachers and engineers, people we never saw before." 

According to Eisenbaum, out of a population of approximately 7.2 million in Israel, over 1.65 million live under the poverty line, including 800,000 children. So the need for aid organizations like Pitchon-Lev is great.

"The pictures you see around me – its Israel 2009 and not Rwanda and not 1920," said Eisenbaum, referring to an era when large numbers of Jewish migrants were settling in Israel. "The population here is very heterogenic, Arabs and Jews, Ethiopians and Russians. All earn less than minimum wage which is about $900 per family per month."

But Rosh Hashanah, which literally means "head of the year" in Hebrew, is a time for celebration – and reflection. It's a Jewish holiday celebrating the new Jewish calendar year, the month that God created the world. 

The central home ritual of the holiday consists of a special festive meal, which includes eating a piece of apple dipped in honey to symbolize a new sweet year.  

So at the aid center, Pitchon-Lev was giving out apples, honey, bread, oil, flour, wine, meat and a haircut. Yes, a beauty parlor donated its workers and in the middle of the parking lot they put up a mirror, set up some plastic chairs and gave haircuts.

Hopefully a full stomach and a new look will help usher in a happy New Year.

An Israeli court order police to evict two Palestinian families from their homes, despite having lived there for 50 years, so Jewish settlers could move in. The evictions follow a long legal battle over the disputed ownership of the site. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports.

VIDEO: Palestinians evicted from homes

It's only 60 miles from some West Bank villages to the sea, yet many Palestinian children have never seen the ocean. However, Israel is begining to allow more freedom of movement for Palestinians - removing some roadblocks and loosening restrictions. And Israeli peace activists helped arrange for some Palestinian children to finally enjoy a day at the beach in peace. NBC News Martin Fletcher reports.

VIDEO: A day at the beach for young Palestinians