Student leaders intend to intensify their struggle and join the public protest that they believe the Winograd Report will prompt against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"We'll take to the streets along with other movements in the wake of the report, with the teacher and student coalition, our parents, brothers and friends, and demand the resignation of those who failed to conduct the war in Lebanon," said Boaz Toporovsky, chairman of the Tel Aviv University Student's Union.

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He said many students would attend the demonstration in Rabin Square on Thursday evening. Meanwhile, the students have begun forming a new coalition and have already spoken with the reservists' protest movement, he said.

The student organizations yesterday rejected a compromise proposed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's aides.

Among other things, the compromise agreement proposed raising tuition fees only for future students, in two years, and restoring the NIS 1 billion slashed from the education budget if the first reform is fully implemented.

The students said the proposal did not include their demand to reduce tuition fees and would instate the full reform the Shochat Committee is expected to call for. This would lead to the privatization of higher education and harm the poorer students, they said.

Education Minister Yuli Tamir said she regretted the proposal's rejection. "It had substantial achievements. The students will miss out if the process ends and they're not partners," she said.

If accepted, Olmert's proposal would mean that today's students would pay current tuition fees through their graduation (some NIS 8,600 a year), while students who start their studies next year would pay current tuition fees for the first year and more from their second year onward.