DEM. CONGRESSMEN URGE ISRAEL TO END GAZA BLOCKADE

Lawmakers press U.S. on Gaza shutdown (JTA)
Eleven Democratic Congress members led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich urged the United States to press Israel to end the Gaza Strip blockade.

"I urge you to exert your influence to lift the Israeli blockade of Gaza, to allow humanitarian aid workers to resume their functions in the territory, and to support a political solution to this conflict because Palestinians in Gaza cannot live on emergency aid forever and Israelis in southern Israel deserve to live without fear," said the letter sent last week to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Israel sealed Gaza in a bid to stop rocket attacks on the country's south.

Kucinich (D-Ohio) just dropped a long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Another signatory is Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.