When Rep. Keith Ellison visited the Gaza Strip earlier this month, he reported back on some of his concerns about humanitarian aid for the Palestinians. He said even basic food items were being blocked at the border.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.

Israeli officials said pasta isn’t food aid.
Ellison learned about some of the aid material that wasn’t making it past Israeli Government including lentils, macaroni, tomato paste, and other common food products.

“If this had happened in our own country, there would be national outrage and an appeal for urgent assistance. We are glad that President Obama acted quickly to send much needed humanitarian funding to Gaza for this effort. However, the arbitrary and unreasonable Israeli limitations on food, and repair and reconstruction materials are unacceptable and indefensible. People, innocent children, women and non-combatants, are going without water, food and sanitation, while the things they so desperately need are sitting in trucks at the border, being denied permission to go in” said Ellison in a release.

Ellison toured the Gaza Strip with Rep. Brian Laird who also criticized the food aid policies. “When have lentil bombs been going off lately? Is someone going to kill you with a piece of macaroni?” asked Laird.

U.S. plans $900 million pledge for Gaza

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United States plans to pledge more than $900 million to help rebuild Gaza after Israel’s invasion and strengthen the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, a U.S. official said on Monday.

The money will be channeled through the U.N. and other bodies and will not be distributed via the militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to make the announcement next week at a Gaza donors conference in Egypt.

Covered women miss vitamin D

DETROIT (UPI) — Arab American women living in Detroit, whose modest dress limits their exposure to the sun, may have dangerously low serum levels of vitamin D, researchers say.

Henry Ford Hospital researchers found that 87 women involved in a small study showed vitamin D levels averaging 8.5 nanograms per milliliter for those who wore Western dress to 4 ng/mL for those who wore the hijab — modest dress with a headscarf common in Muslim-dominated Middle East cultures.

The lead author, Dr. Raymond Hobbs, said a healthy vitamin D level is 30 ng/mL or higher.

The study, published in the January/February issue of Endocrine Practice, also found the women consumed little dietary sources of vitamin D. Forty-seven women reported drinking any milk on a weekly basis, but the amount they consume isn’t significant enough to boost their vitamin D levels, researchers said.

Low levels of vitamin D are linked to increased risk of cancer, diabetes and Crohn’s disease, Hobbs said. Vitamin D is needed to maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus.

Documents reveal AIPAC trade secrets leak leading to $71 billion export loss

WASHINGTON — Newly released Freedom of Information Act documents reveal details of trade secrets leaked during negotiations of America’s first trade agreement.

In 1983 the Israeli prime minister and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbied the Reagan administration for preferential access to the U.S. market. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) commissioned the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to conduct an investigation to advise the President about the probable economic effect of providing duty free entry of Israeli imports on January 31, 1984.

The ITC compiled “business confidential” information and intellectual property solicited from U.S. corporations and industry associations into a classified report for the negotiations. But on August 3, 1984 the Washington Post broke the news that the FBI was investigating how AIPAC obtained one of the fifteen numbered and tightly controlled copies of the classified report. The ITC later confirmed it was also obtained by the Israeli government.

Since the agreement was signed in 1985, U.S. trade with Israel shifted from surplus to a cumulative $71 billion deficit (adjusted for inflation). The 2008 $7.8 billion deficit with Israel was equivalent to 126,000 U.S. manufacturing related jobs. It is the only bilateral FTA producing multi-billion dollar losses to the U.S. every year for the last decade but total losses are still unknown.

According to IRmep director Grant F. Smith the agreement was the beginning of a chain reaction of intellectual property theft documented by industry associations and U.S. counterintelligence agencies: “US corporations were betrayed by the leaks of their intellectual property during treaty negotiations in 1984. U.S. pharmaceutical, defense and other industries continue to lose billions in revenue to Israeli copy-cat merchandise. We are only beginning to fully understand the larger impact of AIPAC and the Israeli government’s ongoing acquisition of classified U.S. information.”

U.S. and Syrian envoys to hold talks

WASHINGTON — Syria’s ambassador to the U.S. is due to hold talks with a state department official in what is seen as the highest level meeting between the two countries since Barack Obama moved into the White House.

Imad Moustapha and Jeffrey Feltman, the acting assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, will discuss concerns including Syria’s support for groups that Washington labels as “terrorists,” the U.S. state department said.

The two diplomats were expected to meet on Thursday.

“There remain key differences between our two governments, including our concerns about Syria’s support to terrorist groups and networks, Syria’s acquisition of nuclear and non-conventional weaponry, interference in Lebanon and worsening human rights situation,” a state department statement said.

“This meeting is an opportunity to use dialogue to discuss these concerns.”

The U.S. cut diplomatic relations with Syria after the 2005 assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister. Syria denies involvement.

But Obama, who took office in January, has introduced a new approach to the Middle East and offered dialogue with states such as Syria and Iran.

Earlier this month, John Kerry, the head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Syria as part of a congressional delegation.

Kerry said he saw possibilities for “real co-operation” between Washington and Damascus.

He said he was also encouraged by his “very long, candid, open” discussion with Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, and said he sees the possibility of progress ahead.

“While we will disagree on some issues for sure, what I heard and what I will take back with me and, hopefully, what we could put in place to take advantage of it, is the possibility of real co-operation on a number of different issues beginning immediately, beginning soon,” Kerry said.