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In a strange twist to this report on the first incident of American/Israeli/International forces enforcing the Hamas weapons embargo, it is claimed that the bombs left "18- holes [craters?] diameters ranging between 160 and 430 meters." The weapons used in the barren Sudanese desert, beyond the reach of the media, must have been huge! The Trinity bomb left a crater 330 meters wide. Even if the translator confused meters for feet, what kind of conventional bombs leave craters of 160 feet or more? Below is a picture of a 70 foot crater left by 38,000 pounds of explosives. Does this incident have anything to do with the arrest warrant for Sudanese President Al-Bashir, since his government recently denounced the US/Israeli raid? There is a lot more to this story. الخرطوم ــ خاص «الشروق»: - Khartoum special «sunrise»: – دمرت الطائرات الأمريكية قافلة شاحنات قيل إنها كانت محملة بالأسلحة ومتجهة إلى الحدود المصرية، للشك فى أنها مهربة إلى سيناء، تمهيدا لادخالها عبر الأنف...

WASHINGTON — Last year, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi had no problem setting up meetings with top officials in the U.S. government. On his current trip to Washington, Ashkenazi sought to meet the administration of President Barack Obama, but most officials were unavailable. Diplomatic sources said Ashkenazi failed to obtain access to any Cabinet member, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The Israeli military chief, who sought to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat, won't even meet his counterpart, Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "The administration is sending a very clear message to Israel, and this is we want to talk about Palestine and not Iran," a diplomat who has been following U.S.-Israel relations said. On March 12, Ashkenazi left for a five-day visit to the United States meant to lobby the Obama administration to abandon the planned U.S. dialogue with Iran. Ashkenazi, scheduled to meet with the American-...

Three rockets fell Thursday in the area around the Gaza Strip, one in the yard of a Sderot home - just a few reminders that Israel is still far from its declared goal in Operation Cast Lead. Discussion about the military operation's outcome revolves around the term "deterrence." If Israel can enshrine Cast Lead in a long-term agreement, the war will be remembered as a success. But fears are mounting that the operation's military achievements are dissipating. If so, the operation will go down in history as a less-than-successful round in a long war in the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces left Gaza with the feeling that it had proven itself, after its debacle in Lebanon in 2006. But it seems that the bottom line will have to wait. In Lebanon, too, it took several months before it could be concluded that although the IDF made mistakes, enough deterrence against Hezbollah was achieved to prevent renewed fighting. Barak, who was quick to criticize what went wrong in L...

Gilad Shalit could have spent this weekend at home in Mitzpe Hila. The bitter fact is that he could have been released a very long time ago. The cat was let out of the bag by none other than the prime minister himself. "There is no reason Israel should lose what remains of its national pride," said Ehud Olmert at a cabinet meeting, as he surprisingly toughened Israel's stance in the negotiations. The soldier Shalit, it now appears, is rotting in jail as a service to returning lost pride to the nation. He never signed up for this flawed and perverted task, his parents did not volunteer their son for this, and it's even doubtful whether the majority of Israelis would support such a cruel and futile view. Olmert, and the others faithful to the nation's lost honor, are welcome to sacrifice themselves for their cause, rather than shoulder it on to others. The nation's honor was lost in the Gaza war, fought under Olmert, as the ghastly footage of our soldiers' a...

In the event of a large-scale future war, the Israel Air Force will not be able to provide the same kind of close aerial support it gave ground troops during the recent operation in the Gaza Strip, military sources said recently. IAF officials said various factors, such as the limited number of aircraft and the enemy's increased capabilities, meant the force would likely not be able to repeat the largely successful model of cooperation with ground forces during Operation Cast Lead, on a broader scale, should the need arise. "Hezbollah and the Syrian army are not Hamas," a senior IAF officer said. "We cannot assume that things will be the same in a bigger war." During Operation Cast Lead the IAF implemented a number of changes that it learned from the Second Lebanon War in 2006. For instance, an air force liaison officer was assigned to every battalion and brigade. Liaisons coordinated evacuation of soldiers and strikes on targets on the ground. Also, every bri...

Another Israeli Spokeswoman Says 'We Control Stupid Americans' "Another Israeli spokeswoman, Tzipora Menache, stated that she was not worried about negative ramifications the Israeli onslaught on Gaza might have on the way the Obama administration would view Israel. She said 'You know very well, and the stupid Americans know equally well, that we control their government, irrespective of who sits in the White House. You see, I know it and you know it that no American president can be in a position to challenge us even if we do the unthinkable. What can they (Americans) do to us? We control congress, we control the media, we control show biz, and we control everything in America. In America you can criticize God, but you can't criticize Israel." Commenting on the latest Israeli one-directional onslaught against the Palestinians of Gaza Strip, the Israeli 10th TV channel has disclosed that the Israeli genocidal forces had used half of its air force and had ...

The Israeli army's chief rabbi has been critcised over a controversial booklet distributed to soldiers before the war on Gaza suggesting that they can ignore the rules of war concerning civilians. > Gaza villages Wiped off the map Another excellent report by Jonathan Miller. Telling the story of destruction and killing in Gaza.

Summary: Israel is not doing it out of the goodness of its heart, of course. The U.S. and Israel have signed an agreement to prevent Hamas re-arming itself . Egypt would play a large part in closing down smugglers' tunnels going into Gaza. Israel also wants to keep troops in Gaza after the halt, as an occupying force. The IDF is continuing its claim that the invasion is justified; to prove this, it has let reporters see a supposed Hamas launch site . It has yet to co-relate the launch sites with the 86% civilian casualties in Gaza. Complete Article JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli leaders are leaning toward declaring a unilateral halt to their offensive in the Gaza Strip instead of entering into a formal, Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Hamas, Israeli political sources said on Friday. Such a move could deprive Hamas of political gains from a truce deal that would include the easing of Israel's blockade on the coastal enclave, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. Israeli official...

US/Israel Sign Suicide Pact, Death Warrant, Letter of Bondage for Obama WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni signed a deal here Friday aimed at halting arms smuggling into Gaza as part of efforts to clinch a ceasefire. Speaking at a hastily-arranged signing ceremony in Washington, Rice said the deal "provides a series of steps that the US and Israel will take to stem the flow of weapons and explosives into Gaza." Rice, who blamed Hamas rocket attacks for sparking a 21-day military offensive by Israel, said the memorandum of understanding aims to ensure that "Gaza can never again be used as a "launchpad" for such attacks. Livni thanked her US counterpart for completing this "historic MOU in record time." The Israeli top diplomat added: "There must be an end of smuggling of weapons to Gaza… The MOU we sign today is … a vital component for the cessation of hostilities." However, it was not...

George Galloway's powerful speech in the House of Commons debate on Gaza, Thu 15 Jan 2009 (5.30pm), highlighting the hypocrisy and brazen towards Israel policies, including assassinations and other war crimes. George Galloway: "I say to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who is not in his place, that the international community is not impotent, but merely feigns impotence as an excuse for its failure to carry out its duties. Although the Minister's words were more robust, he essentially masked the same inaction as the languid and complacent Foreign Secretary, who performed in front of us on Monday" He also wrote the following article in The Morning Star saying “the time has come to step up the struggle to achieve justice for Palestinians.” ————— Widening the struggle As I write, the death toll in Gaza is approaching 1,000, nearly 400 of them confirmed as children. I dread to think what the figure will be by the time you read this. What is happening in Pa...