Israel Puts Media Clamp on Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - January 6, 2009 - 1:00am Three times in recent days, a small group of foreign correspondents was told to appear at the border crossing to Gaza. The reporters were to be permitted in to cover firsthand the Israeli war on Hamas in keeping with a Supreme Court ruling against the two-month-old Israeli ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza. Each time, they were turned back on security grounds, even as relief workers and other foreign citizens were permitted to cross the border. On Tuesday the reporters were told to not even bother going to the border. » Read more

Abbas Appeals at UN for End of Israeli ‘Genocide’ in Gaza Strip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg by Bill Varner - January 6, 2009 - 1:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip is “genocide” and appealed for urgent action by the United Nations Security Council to stop the 11-day assault. “The entire world opinion will accept no less than an urgent intervention by the Security Council to stop the fighting and deter the aggressor,” Abbas said at the UN in New York late today. “This is the message I am bearing.” » Read more

Israel defers vote on expanding Gaza ground op amid growing truce bids ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - January 7, 2009 - 1:00am Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday postponed a vote on whether to expand the Israel Defense Forces 12-day-old offensive in the Gaza Strip, political sources said. The sources said ministers discussed whether to implement the "third stage" of an operation launched on Dec. 27 but decided to defer the decision on whether to approve it to an undisclosed date. Israel's political leadership gathered in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning to discuss widening the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip at a time when most of the aims of the operation have been met. » Read more

UN rejects IDF claim Gaza militants operated from bombed-out school ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar, Amos Harel, Amira Hass, Avi Issacharoff, Anshel Pfeffer - January 7, 2009 - 1:00am The United Nations on Wednesday denied Israel Defense Forces claims that there were Palestinian militants in the Gaza school bombed by Israel on Tuesday. Christopher Gunness of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said the organization is 99.9 percent certain there were no militants or military activity in its school. That does not necessarily contradict Israel's claim that the militants were operating close by, Gunness said. » Read more

Sarkozy says Israel accepts Gaza truce plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters January 7, 2009 - 1:00am French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday Israel and the Palestinian Authority had accepted a truce plan for Gaza announced by Egypt on Tuesday. "The president is delighted by the acceptance by Israel and the Palestinian Authority of the Franco-Egyptian plan presented last night in Sharm el-Sheikh by (Egyptian) President (Hosni) Mubarak," said a statement from Sarkozy's office. "The head of state calls for this plan to be implemented as quickly as possible for the suffering of the population to stop."