July 6th

Israel to Upgrade Air Force With F-35 Advanced Aircrafts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Hanan Greenberg - July 5, 2012 - 12:00am Not long ago, a thick cloud of rumors settled on the new, much-talked-about IDF [Israel Defense Forces] acquisition of 20 F-35's, a fighter plane known as the Stealth produced by the American Lockheed Martin Company. There were rumors regarding production slowdowns and delays of the F-35, known as the “fifth generation fighter plane” (in contrast to the Israeli fourth-generation F-16's). The fear is that they will reach Israel very late — too late to serve the IDF in coping with future challenges. » Read more

Palestinians Turn to Solar Power To Reduce Reliance on Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Amnon Rubinstein - July 5, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinians are almost entirely dependent on electricity provided by Israel. In Gaza, a local power station provides some 40% percent of the Strip’s electricity. The Palestinians buy electricity in small levels from Egypt and Jordan, but this doesn’t change their dependence on Israel. As a result, the Palestine Electric Company, in cooperation with the Palestinian investment firm Padico, began roughly two years ago to make preparations to build a power station near Jenin. » Read more

Israel’s Domestic Communication Satellite Industry Saved ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Arieh O'Sullivan - July 5, 2012 - 12:00am The decision to award the construction of Israel’s newest communications satellite to a state-owned company has probably saved the life of the production line and was likely done to preserve independence for defense communications. » Read more

World Bank pays $22.3 million to PA budget ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 6, 2012 - 12:00am The World Bank on Tuesday said it paid $22.3 million to the Palestinian Authority to help with a budget crisis. The funds are from a trust paid into by the governments of Australia, France, Kuwait, Norway, and the UK, the World Bank said in a statement. It noted that the aid was slated to support education, health care and other social services and for the economic reforms undertaken by the West Bank government. » Read more

Boxing connects young Israeli Arabs and Jews ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Blake Sobczak - July 5, 2012 - 12:00am The bell clangs, the fight starts and the boxers come at each other. On one side is a 13-year-old Arab boy from northern Israel. His opponent comes from a Jewish town. The Jewish fighter from the blue corner pushes his Arab adversary against the ropes before pummeling him with a barrage of punches. Jews and Arabs have been fighting each other for decades, so boxing may seem like a strange way to build peace between the two — but that's what the Israel Boxing Association aims for. » Read more

Arafatuous In Print by Hussein Ibish - Foreign Policy (Editorial) - July 5, 2012 - 12:00am In November 2004, a sad but very familiar scene played itself out: A sick, 75-year-old man who had been living in squalor for several years after an extremely difficult life -- including a near-death experience in the Libyan desert -- finally passed away. Doctors at the Percy hospital in France determined he died of natural causes: a stroke caused by an unidentified infection. As is so often the case, human life ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. » Read more

The prodigal son too good to be true ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shayna Zamkanei - (Opinion) July 6, 2012 - 12:00am In mid-June, Israel's most trusted former collaborator, Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef, arrived at Ben-Gurion airport. Invited by Druze lawmaker Ayoob Kara (Likud ), Yousef, who now lives in the United States, has been speaking to various groups and committees. » Read more

Palestinian hunger striker in critical condition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Blake Sobczak - July 5, 2012 - 12:00am A Palestinian prisoner convicted of transporting suicide bombers is in critical condition after a nearly three-month hunger strike, a rights group said Thursday. Akram Rikhawi started fasting on April 12, just before 1,200 other prisoners began refusing food to demand better conditions. Israeli authorities reached a deal with participants in the wider strike by mid-May, easing some restrictions. Rikhawi has continued to protest his detention by refusing to eat. » Read more

No, Israel Didn't Offer to Trade the West Bank for Peace in 1967 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) July 5, 2012 - 12:00am It's a reassuring story, regularly repeated by defenders of Israeli policy: After the Six-Day War, Israel offered to give up the land it had just occupied in return for peace. But the Arabs said no, first quietly, then publicly at the Khartoum Summit. Alas, Israel was stuck with the occupied territories. In some versions of the story, Israel had virtually no choice but to start building settlements once the Arabs rejected diplomacy. » Read more

'Polonium found on Arafat's clothing was planted' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Lappin - July 5, 2012 - 12:00am The high levels of the radioactive poison polonium reportedly found on the belongings of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat indicate that the toxin was on them after his death, a senior counterterrorism analyst told The Jerusalem Post Thursday. Dr. Ely Karmon, of the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya’s Institute for Counterterrorism, is a specialist in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism. » Read more