March 25, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- Well it has now emerged that the British Government used spies, lies and community leaders to spew out anti-Palestinian propaganda during the Gaza War.

And the proof is there, in black and white, for any of you who care to wade through the weighty document called the Annual Report of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).

Most MPs are still too busy trying to tot up the shortfall left by the expenses scandal, to leaf through the document which was quietly slipped into Parliament a few days ago.

But hidden among the layers of government-speak there is confirmation that a Government propaganda unit which was originally set up to tackle terrorism was used on a black propaganda exercise.

Its aim was simple – to promote Israel and depict the innocents suffering in Gaza as extremists and therefore, anyone helping these people must be themselves regarded as extremist.

The aim, as always, was to frighten people, intimidate them and turn them away from showing any support to the besieged community of Gaza.

It could’ve been a huge victory for the Zionist lobby which has its tentacles reaching in to most government departments.

We now know the top secret unit set about influencing and twisting British public opinion during the brutal Israeli attack on Gaza last year in which more than 1400 died.

The report also outlines a number of other steps taken by the Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU), including the creation of a network of community organisations.

RICU is linked to the UK Government's decidedly dodgy Prevent programme which was set up on the pretext of preventing "violent extremism."

It’s a filthy little black propaganda unit … the sort of which operates in tinpot dictatorships and the type of which fell under the CIA control of most Latin American juntas in the 70s.

The activities of its grubby employees bends, corrupts and distorts democracies and it is shameful this Labour Government employs such tactics.

The job of these shadowy types is to mobilise public and voluntary sector workers and ordinary people to Hoover up government policy and spew it out to friends, family and local communities. ...

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces across east Jerusalem on Tuesday in the worst rioting in years, as a senior Hamas leader called for a new "intifada" or uprising.

As the unrest rocked Jerusalem, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell delayed a visit to the region amid the worst diplomatic spat in decades between Israel and key ally the United States, which was struggling to revive peace talks.

Police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian protesters who hurled stones and set up barricades of dumpsters and burning tyres in several neighbourhoods.

Twenty-one injured Palestinians were hospitalised and dozens more were treated on the spot, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

One policeman suffered a pistol shot to the hand in an Arab neighbourhood of east Jerusalem, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding that the unknown gunman got away. ....

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UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for restraint from both Israel and the Palestinians, and reiterated that Jerusalem's final status should be decided by negotiations.

Earlier this month, the Palestinians reluctantly agreed to indirect talks with Israel after a 14-month break, but the outlook for a swift resumption of the peace process now looks bleak after the new settlements announcement.

The reopening of the twice-destroyed Hurva synagogue in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem's walled Old City on Monday further fuelled tensions.

Many Palestinians view Israeli projects near the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound -- Islam's third holiest site -- as an assault on its tense status quo or a prelude to the building of a third Jewish temple there.

Jews call the compound Temple Mount and consider it their holiest site because the second Temple stood there before the Romans destroyed it in 70 AD.