As Obama Wavers, Congressmen Cheer Aid Ship Massacre - Foreign Affairs Chair Lauds Killings of 'Brutal' Aid Workers

President Obama’s reluctance to comment in any but the most vague terms of the massacre of 19 aid workers by Israeli commandos late Sunday night has left many wondering exactly where the US government will fall on an issue which has been blanketly condemned by virtually every government in the civilized world and virtually every government outside the civilized world.

But the lack of White House comment has opened the door for Congressmen to stake out public positions on the matter and, perhaps predictably, those that have commented have universally praised the killings.

Rep. Gary Ackerman, the House Foreign Affairs chair, praised the raid, saying he supported Israel’s decision to attack the ship and the decision of the commandos to use deadly force against the aid workers, who he said were "brutally attacking" them. He added that the whole matter was secretly Hamas’ fault.'

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Biden Defends Israeli Slaughter of Activists

US Vice President Joe Biden says Israel had an "absolute right" to attack peace activists on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla.

"Israel has an absolute right to deal with its security interest," Biden said in an interview on PBS's "Charlie Rose" show on Wednesday.

Biden said the US supported an Israeli investigation of the incident with international involvement, similar to South Korea's recent probe into the sinking of one of its warships.'

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So a complete whitewash is in order then!

Genetic Mutations, Peculiar Injuries: More Evidence Emerges that Israel Used Gaza as Testing Ground for Experimental Weapons

Toxic and carcinogenic metals, able to produce genetic mutations, have been found in the tissues of people wounded in Gaza during Israeli military operations of 2006 and 2009. The research has been carried out on wounds provoked by weapons that did not leave fragments in the bodies of the victims, a peculiarity that was pointed out repeatedly by doctors in Gaza. This shows that experimental weapons, whose effects are still to be assessed, were used.

Some of the elements found are carcinogenic (mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel and uranium), others are potentially carcinogenic (cobalt and vanadium), others are also fetotoxic (alluminium, copper, barium, lead and manganese). The first ones can produce genetic mutations; the second ones can have the same effect on animals, but they are not proven to do the same on people; the third ones have toxic effects on people ad can affect either the embryo or the foetus in pregnant women. All metals found in high amounts have pathogenic effects on human respiratory organs, kidney and skin and affect sexual and neurological development and functions.'

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Hamas Demolished Homes In Rafah

Local sources have reported that the Hamas security forces in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, demolished several homes, Sunday, and intends to demolish more homes under the claim that they were built without permits.

The sources that clashes took place between a number of residents and the security forces leading to several injuries.'

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Israeli Forces Invade N Gaza Strip

Palestinian resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip have clashed with Israeli forces upon a fresh incursion into the north of the Palestinian coastal enclave.

The confrontation occurred on Wednesday when a number of Israeli armored vehicles and bulldozers briefly crossed into an area east of al-Shujaiyeh, Ma'an news agency quoted witnesses as saying.

They said Israeli artillery also shelled the area, which is close to the now defunct Nahal Oz fuel pipeline along the Gaza-Israel border.'

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6,500 Disabled Children in Gaza After War

Recent statistics shows an increment in the number of children who have lost at least one or more of their limbs during the war in Gaza. The number is an estimated 6,500.'

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Loaded Opposition

One can imagine that were US soldiers to open fire with live ammunition on American protesters, this would not be acceptable. Likewise for Canada and most democratic nations.

Yet somehow there is a void, a gaping hole in the media into which fall most potential reports on Israeli soldiers shooting with live ammunition on visibly unarmed demonstraters.

When Palestine is too far away, too "over there" and mired in "age-old conflict" for mild news viewers and readers to understand, perhaps the simple comparison of "would we accept this for ourselves?" is more apt.

Would we accept that a young man in his early twenties is shot dead for prancing on his land, gleefully laughing in the faces of armed (Israeli) soldiers, delighting in accessing land that had been unilaterally cut off from him and its owners… should be shot dead for it?'

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Israeli Troops Shoot Protesters at Gaza Demo

Israeli troops shot and wounded three Palestinians and a Maltese woman in the Gaza Strip on Saturday during a protest near the border with Israel, witnesses and medical sources said.

The four were shot after they entered a 300-metre- (-yard) deep no-go zone previously declared by Israel on the Gaza side of the frontier.

The incident occurred when some 150 people, including six foreigners, began a demonstration to protest against the ban, which prevents Gaza farmers from using the land.'

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Gaza in Blackout as Israeli Blockade Continues

The only power plant in the blockaded Gaza Strip has shut down as a crippling Israeli closure keeps the impoverished region stripped of much needed fuel.

The facility was forces to close on Friday, following a week of limited fuel imports and Israeli authorities' refusal to open any border-crossings.

Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh confirmed the closure of all crossings and that they were expected to remain closed for Saturday as well.

That would mean the populated enclave will dip in a blackout for the next three days until fuel supplies are allowed and transported to the power plant.'

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Hamas Urges International Intervention Over Israeli Threats

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has called for international intervention in a bid to prevent another Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip.

The plea comes after the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom warned on Friday that Tel Aviv would launch another large-scale military operation against the Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip in the near future.

Shalom made the remarks after Israel carried out a series of air strikes, injuring three Palestinian children, aged two, four and 11.'

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Israel Imposes Nine-Day Blockade on West Bank

Israel imposes a 9-day full blockade of the occupied West Bank starting Sunday night, ostensibly as a security measure for the Jewish Passover festival.

The lockdown, on the orders of the Israeli War Minister Ehud Barak, will prevent thousands of Palestinian workers based in the West Bank from reaching their places of work.

The closure will be lifted only after another security assessment following the Passover holiday, the Israeli army said in a statement on Sunday.'

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Breaking Gaza: Two Martyrs and Many Critically Injured in Khan Younis

'The IOF carried an invasion in khan younis opening random fire on civilians causing many injuries among them.

All kinds of Israeli air crafts were over seeing and protecting the ground IOF while the invasion, then they missiled a playground in khan younis targeting a bunch of children playing football. 3 children were critically injured, Abd Rabbu, 6 years, got hit in the back and is currently in the ICU.'

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Israeli Bulldozers Demolish Gaza Homes, Farms

Israeli bulldozers have demolished several Palestinian homes and destroyed farmlands in the northern sector of the Gaza Strip after Israeli tanks opened fire on them.

In the early hours of Tuesday, a number of Israeli army bulldozers uprooted trees and then leveled several homes after tanks opened fire on the periphery of the Beit Hanoun (Eretz) crossing and near the northern border of the Gaza strip, the International Middle East Media Center reported on Wednesday.'

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Israeli Army Tanks Open Fire on Gazans

Israeli army tanks opened fire on northern Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian and wounding another near the town of Beit Lahia, Palestinian sources say.

According to witnesses living in the area, the army tanks fired four artillery shells at the area on Monday, DPA reported.

The head of Gaza emergency services, Muawiya Hassanein, also confirmed that a Palestinian was killed, saying they recovered the body of Mohammed Ghaban, 20, who was killed by shrapnel from Israeli shelling near Beit Lahia.'

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Agha: Israel Created Gaza Valley Flood to Cause Environmental Disaster

Palestinian minister of agriculture Dr. Ramadan Agha, said Wednesday that the flooding in Gaza valley was deliberately created by Israel in order to cause an environmental catastrophe and destroy the agricultural life in the areas of the valley, Johr Al-Deek and AL-Maghraqa.

During a symposium on Gaza valley flood organized by the ministry, Dr. Agha noted that Israel used to dump chemical waste in the eastern side of the valley and when it opened the floodgates of one of its dams, all this is swept throughout the flooded areas leading to the contamination of soil and water.'

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You Just Couldn't Make it Up: Peres Blames Iran For No Palestinian State

Israeli President Shimon Peres declares Tehran as the main obstacle to the creation of a viable Palestinian State.

"The big problem today is Iran," He said in an interview with German television channel, ARD.

The 86-year-old politician who arrived in the German capital of Berlin on an official visit to mark the so-called 'International Holocaust Remembrance Day,' was especially critical of Iran's support for the Islamic resistance movements in the region, namely Hamas and Hezbollah.

Iran's connections with the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, he claimed, has until now prevented the creation of a Palestinian state.'

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Israel Denies Using Weapons Containing Uranium Components on Gaza

I knew it would only be a matter of time before data started coming out of Gaza to prove that the Palestinians had now fallen victim to weapons containing uranium. We have seen the evidence in the Iraq, Afghanistan and now Gaza.

Back towards the end of September the evidence started to emerge after Dr. Mowaiya Hassanen, director of the Emergency department at the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that after more than eight months since Cast Lead several birth defect cases were reported among the Gaza Strip newborns. He stated that several newborn babies have heart defects and abnormalities. Dr Hassanen blamed the IDF for using illegal weapons.'

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What Does Gaza Have That Israel So Desperately Needs

Since British Gas (BG) first discovered huge offshore reserves of natural gas in Gazan waters Israel has attempted to dictate and secure the future of these reserves.

At one stage they almost signed up for the entire reserve but then political change took place in Gaza when Hamas came to power. This was a severe blow to the Israeli Government which had by now established a war footing.This was confirmed back in 2007 when Lt-Gen. (ret) Moshe Yaalon published an article in the Jewish Center for Public Affairs (Vol 7, No 17 19 October 2007) titled: Does the Prospective Purchase of British Gas from Gaza's Coastal Waters Threaten Israel's National Security? It was in this article that he quoted the following: "It is clear that without an overall military operation to uproot Hamas control of Gaza, no drilling work can take place without the consent of the radical Islamic movement".

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Israel Bans Books, Music and Clothes From Entering Gaza

Israel allows only food, medicine and detergent into the Gaza Strip. Thousands of items, including vital products for everyday activity, are forbidden.

Altogether only 30 to 40 select commercial items are now allowed into the Gaza Strip, compared to 4,000 that had been approved before the closure Israel imposed on Gaza following the abduction of Gilad Shalit, according to merchants and human rights activists.

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Egyptian Media: Israel Bombed Iranian Arms Ship Allegedly Headed for Gaza

According to a report in the Egyptian newspaper El-Aosboa on Sunday, a recent attack on an Iranian ship off the coast of Sudan was carried out by the Israeli navy, with possible U.S. involvement.After January's Israeli invasion of Gaza, there have been several incidents of Israeli attacks on what they claimed were arms shipments from Iran bound for Gaza. No Palestinian group has ever claimed a connection with Iran, and the homemade shells fired by Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza are mainly made of homemade materials, lacking any sophistication that would imply Iranian involvement.

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