As a former US Marine who is quite familiar with the effects of artillery, I must point out that a careful viewing of the media video of the after effects of the Gaza explosion showed NO artillery round craters. Israel's IDF uses 155 mm artillery shells. These are quite powerful and invariably leave a crater, some as deep as four feet in soft soil like sand. Virtually none were visible in the film. Particularly in the area immediately adjacent to the family's alleged picnic site. There is something very wrong in this entire story about that explosion. Unfortunately, the Palestinians have already reaped the benefit from a world media all too eager to blame Israel. Michael Allen    6 12 06 UPDATE: Michael Allen's insight is confirmed by an Israel Defense Forces report, just released and published in the Jerusalem Post: The IDF probe investigating the deaths of seven Palestinian civilians, caused by an explosion on a beach in Gaza on Friday evening, concluded that chances...(Read Full Post)