Evidence is emerging from Gaza that Israel is not only using weapons in a manner that violates international agreements but that it also may have received a green light from the US to employ weapons that are still being developed, transforming the people of Gaza into guinea pigs for the murderous minds of the Israeli and US military. First, there is no debate Israel is firing shells containing white phosphorous, which causes horrific burns when it comes into contact with skin. International law says that phosphorus is allowed as a smokescreen to protect soldiers but treated as a chemical weapon when used against civilians. Israel's stated intent may be to use phosphorous as a smokescreen but when fired into the heavily populated Gaza strip, it would be obtuse to believe that civilians would not bear the brunt of its damage. International human rights groups have strongly criticized Israel for its use of phosphorous, saying that the manner in which it is being used amounts to chemical warfare. Additionally, new revelations have prompted strong suspicions that it's utilizing Dime, or Dense Inert Metal Explosives, a weapon recently developed by the US army to create a powerful and lethal blast over a small area. Gaza doctors say that some of the injuries they have treated – mutilations that have not come from shrapnel tearing bodies – are indicative of the use of Dime, which is reportedly still in the development stage and not regulated. “All is fair in love and war” is a renowned adage that Shakespeare gave the world. And it is, indeed, difficult to rate the levels of barbarity that emerge in war. But it is frighteningly instructive when the Jewish state, whose people's ancestors were subjected to horrific experiments by Nazi doctors during WWII, finds it in itself to subject another people to horrific experimentation of weapons of war. It brings to mind Ariel Sharon's comment regarding a “final solution” when Israeli troops marched toward Beirut. Israel has become everything it has claimed its existence was against. And with a ban on press entering Gaza, we can only imagine what more may be happening there. __
