Israel stifles free press covering Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News
by Dion Nissenbaum - December 30, 2008 - 1:00am

On one hand, one can't blame the Israeli government for wanting to do what it can to prevent the world from seeing the effects of its devastating Gaza airstrikes that have killed hundreds of Palestinians. In 48-hours, Israel has decimated the Gaza Strip, killed more than 300 Palestinians and injured 1,400 others in a "shock and awe" air campaign.

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Israel, Hamas and the seduction of blind force
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Gershom Gorenberg - December 30, 2008 - 1:00am

Reporting from Jerusalem — Asewage reservoir in the northern Gaza Strip was in danger of bursting, my morning paper reported last week. The sewage couldn't be pumped to new filtration ponds because of power shortages caused by Israeli restrictions on fuel supplies to the Hamas-ruled territory. If heavy rain -- or a stray rocket -- cracked the reservoir's earthen sides, a flood of filth would threaten lives and poison the surrounding land. The Haaretz reporter got the story by phone. For security reasons, Israel doesn't let its journalists enter Gaza.

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Progressive Jewish Groups See Test in Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Independent
by Spencer Ackerman - December 30, 2008 - 1:00am

As the Israeli bombardment of Gaza enters its fourth day, there is no shortage of tests. The wisdom of Israeli strategy is being tested. The resilience of the Palestinian people is being tested. The ability of the U.S. and the international community to impose a ceasefire is being tested. And the might of the new progressive American Jewish infrastructure that emerged in 2008 — unapologetically pro-peace and pro-Israel — is undergoing its own test as well: How to effectively argue that an Israeli war is counterproductive to Israel’s long-term security while the bombs are falling.

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Israel warns attack on Gaza has just begun
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by James Hider, Nico Hines - December 30, 2008 - 1:00am

Israel warned today that the aerial attack on Gaza, which has now entered its fourth brutal day, is only “the first of several” military stages intended to wipe out Hamas. As the army said it was ready to launch a ground incursion and tanks and infantry forces massed on the border, Israeli officials claimed the military “has made preparations for long weeks of action”.

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Israel downplays criticism of Gaza blitz
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 29, 2008 - 1:00am

Israel has played down international criticism of its massive bombardment of Gaza, saying the protests have been generally more measured than on previous occasions. ‘The tone of the criticism is moderate, restrained, more balanced, at least in the case of those countries that count,’ a senior government official said. ‘I’m not talking about Iran or other extremist states,’ he told AFP.

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Palestine's Guernica and the Myths of Israeli Victimhood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Mustafa Barghouthi - December 29, 2008 - 1:00am

Palestine's Guernica and the Myths of Israeli Victimhood The Israeli campaign of 'death from above' began around 11 am, on Saturday morning, the 27th of December, and stretched straight through the night into this morning. The massacre continues Sunday as I write these words.

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Gaza Toll Hits 300 in 3rd Day of Israel Strikes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Taghreed El-Khodary, Isabel Kershner - December 29, 2008 - 1:00am

GAZA — In a third straight day of deadly air strikes against the emblems and institutions of Hamas on Monday, Israeli warplanes pounded targets in Gaza including the Interior Ministry while the Israeli Army declared areas around the beleaguered enclave a “closed military zone.” The attacks brought the death toll in Gaza to more than 300, according to Palestinian medical officials.

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Israel mounts third day of Gaza raids
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - December 29, 2008 - 1:00am

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli air strikes flattened bastions of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip on Monday in the third day of an offensive that has killed more than 325 Palestinians in the deadliest violence in the territory in decades. "We have an all-out war against Hamas and its kind," Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said in parliament, using a term he has employed in the past to describe a long-term struggle against Israel's Islamist enemies.

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Israel says Gaza assault 'war to the bitter end'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Matti Friedman - December 29, 2008 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel obliterated symbols of Hamas power on the third day of what the defense minister described Monday as a "war to the bitter end," striking next to the Hamas premier's home, and devastating a security compound and a university building.

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Britain slams 'unacceptable' loss of life in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 29, 2008 - 1:00am

LONDON (AFP) – Britain renewed its call on Monday for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants, while lamenting the "unacceptable" loss of innocent lives as Israeli strikes in Gaza continued for a third day. Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned the region was facing a "dangerous and dark moment". Asked if the Israeli attacks could be justified, Miliband told BBC radio: "I think that any innocent loss of life is unacceptable and in this case there have been massive casualties, some of them civilians and some of them children.

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