Link: http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m64275&hd=&size=1&l=e

Many Palestinian children still living in precarious situations at ground level in Gaza after Israeli bombing during "Cast lead" have unusually high concentrations of metals in the hair, indicating environmental contamination, which can cause health and growth damages due to chronic exposure. This is the result of a pilot study conducted by the New Weapons Research Group (Nwrg), an independent committee of scientists and experts based in Italy, who is studying the use of unconventional weapons and their mid-term effects on the population of after-war areas.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/16/violent-clashes-erupt-east-jerusalem

Israeli-Palestinian tensions erupted into violence today with clashes in East Jerusalem as the US postponed a visit by its Middle East envoy in protest at Binyamin Netanyahu's settlement policy.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article7063214.ece

Sit down at any dinner table in the Arab world and the conversation will inevitably turn to one of the enduring mysteries of the region. How is it that America has shown such unwavering support for Israel over the decades?

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/201031553915888403.html

The United States has stepped up pressure on Israel over its plans to build more settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem, despite an apology from the Israeli prime minister over the timing of the announcement.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/13/israel-palestine-obama-biden-america

Politics is ultimately about interests. Morals and highfalutin principles have their place, but a more reliable truth is that governments and countries usually act in their own self-interest. Usually. The way Israel greeted the visiting US vice-president, Joe Biden, this week offers an intriguing exception to the rule, a rare instance of a state acting in a way that brings itself almost no benefit and delivers a huge amount of self-inflicted harm.

Link: http://www.salem-news.com:80/articles/march122010/corrie-goodman.php

Rachel Corrie was a college student from Washington state who tried to slow the destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza. She was run down by an Israeli military bulldozer operator while she communicated with him on a bullhorn. The Israeli Defense Forces were not held accountable. But, the parents of Rachel Corrie this week, are actually having their day in court. They are currently in Haifa, Israel for the civil case involving the death of their daughter.

Link: http://www.voltairenet.org/article164425.html

The European Parliament adopted during its Wednesday session a decision calling for implementing the recommendations of the Goldstone report on Gaza war, in preparation to present the resolution to the 13th session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council which will be held in Geneva by the end of March [1]. The decision states that the E.U. has the responsibility to monitor the Israeli and Palestinian investigations of war crimes committed during the Israeli war on Gaza.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/201031042646747585.html

The family of a US student activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza is set to launch a damages case in the Haifa district court in northern Israel. Rachel Corrie, whose family is suing for $324,000, was one of several foreign activists killed in confrontations with Israel in occupied territory in the past decade.

Link: http://www.redress.cc:80/palestine/slittlewood20100309

Stuart Littlewood looks at how Israel’s incessant abuse of the Palestinian people’s rights and freedoms, and its trampling on their dreams, lie behind almost every act of suicide bombing. ”Here in the West few of us can fully comprehend what turns a bright, intelligent person into a suicide bomber. But then, we don’t have a jackboot on our throat. We don’t have our front door battered down in the middle of the night by military thugs, our family abducted, our home bulldozed and our land confiscated.” The suicide bomber wrote that he began to live the day he came to know he was to die. Where did he get this passion to kill? – Mahesh Bhatt

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article7053903.ece

A senior Palestinian leader warned yesterday that Washington faced its last chance to broker an enduringpeace in the Middle East as Joe Biden, the US Vice-President, flew in to try to jump-start indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Link: http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/west-bank/4655-israel-oks-new-settlement-in-west-bank

A day after the Palestinians agreed to resume peace talks with Israelis, Israeli occupation authorities authorized the construction of 112 new apartments in the West Bank despite a promise to slowdown settlement building. Word of the new construction in the Beitar Illit settlement came while the U.S. is trying to salvage peacemaking as Washington's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, is also meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Link: http://www.redress.cc:80/palestine/ahart20100307

Alan Hart views an article published in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, in which Gideon Levy castigates the Israeli “left” and “peace camp” for their “impossible adherence to Zionism”, for their complacency and for the unwillingness of their followers to take personal risk and show courage, which, he says, mean that Israel's left is “illusory” and its peace camp “an unborn baby”.

Link: http://www.paltelegraph.com/hot-topic/4542-new-birth-defect-in-gaza

An increase in birth defects among newborns in the Gaza Strip - first documented in the Palestine Telegraph - has become apparent, despite claims to the contrary by some doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital. Pregnant women say they are living in constant fear.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/finkelstein03032010.html

By NORMAN FINKELSTEIN Editors' Note: This article is excerpted from Norman Finkelstein’s important new book about the Gaza conflict, “This Time We Went Too Far” published this month by OR Books. To purchase a copy of the complete book please visit OR Books. This book is not available from bookstores or other online retailers.