Rep. Keith Ellison, Minnesota's first and only black congressman, marks not only Martin Luther King Day today, but also the one-year anniversary of the end of the "Gaza War," Israel's 2008-2009 military incursion into the Gaza Strip, from where Palestinian militants have been shooting rockets into Israel. The Minneapolis Democrat, who visited Gaza last year, is leading efforts to pass a congressional resolution calling for an end to the blockade that has kept food, water, medicine and fuel in short supply in the beleaguered Palestinian territory. Ellison is also one of 35 House members who have signed on to a letter to President Obama asking him to press for "immediate relief for the citizens of Gaza" as part of his broader Middle East peace efforts. The letter expresses sympathy for the people of southern Israel who have suffered in the Hamas rocket and mortar attacks, but also for the citizens of Gaza suffering from the "de facto collective punishment" of the blockade. House members are being invited to a Capitol Hill briefing Wednesday featuring Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Gazan doctor and peace activist who lost three daughters in the conflict. Also featured is Eric Yellin, founder of the peace group Other Voice and a resident of Sderot, the Israeli border town that has been in the cross-hairs of Palestinian rocket fire.
