Israel rejects settlement university in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 4, 2012 - 12:00am Israel's council of higher education voted Wednesday not to grant a West Bank college coveted university status, vetoing a move that could have triggered international condemnations and enraged the Palestinians. Sharon Achdut, the council's spokesman, said five out of seven members of the committee voted against upgrading the status of the college in Ariel, one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank. » Read more

Israel rejects settlement university in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 4, 2012 - 12:00am Israel's council of higher education voted Wednesday not to grant a West Bank college coveted university status, vetoing a move that could have triggered international condemnations and enraged the Palestinians. Sharon Achdut, the council's spokesman, said five out of seven members of the committee voted against upgrading the status of the college in Ariel, one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank. » Read more

Israel rejects settlement university in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 4, 2012 - 12:00am Israel's council of higher education voted Wednesday not to grant a West Bank college coveted university status, vetoing a move that could have triggered international condemnations and enraged the Palestinians. Sharon Achdut, the council's spokesman, said five out of seven members of the committee voted against upgrading the status of the college in Ariel, one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank. » Read more

Israel's Coalition With Potential ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Peter A. Joseph - (Opinion) July 5, 2012 - 12:00am The inclination by those in the peace camp, both in Israel and the United States, to react cynically to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s surprise announcement of a coalition agreement with Kadima party chairman Shaul Mofaz was not that shocking. But it is sorely misguided. Worse, it could be detrimental to Israel’s interests. » Read more

Israel rejects settlement university in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 4, 2012 - 12:00am Israel's council of higher education voted Wednesday not to grant a West Bank college coveted university status, vetoing a move that could have triggered international condemnations and enraged the Palestinians. Sharon Achdut, the council's spokesman, said five out of seven members of the committee voted against upgrading the status of the college in Ariel, one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank. » Read more

Israeli journalist reaches plea bargain with state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 5, 2012 - 12:00am An investigative reporter who faced indictment for exposing classified military documents has reached a plea bargain with the government that will allow him to avoid jail time, his newspaper and the justice ministry said Thursday. The government had announced in May that it would charge Uri Blau from the liberal Haaretz newspaper with unauthorized possession of state secrets, stirring up fears of a crusade to stifle the press. Journalists had said charges against Blau would make reporters hesitate to do their jobs, for fear they might end up in jail. » Read more

Hamas PM to meet Islamist president of Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 5, 2012 - 12:00am A Palestinian official says Gaza's prime minister will head to Cairo within the next two weeks to meet with Egypt's new Islamist president, who has close ties with the territory's Hamas rulers. Cabinet secretary Mohammed Askoul says Ismail Haniyeh will meet President Mohammed Morsi and senior Egyptian security officials. Haniyeh wants Egypt to open its border with Gaza. Hamas is an offshoot of Morsi's region-wide Muslim Brotherhood movement. » Read more

Rewriting the Arafat story ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Alex Fishman - (Opinion) July 5, 2012 - 12:00am Fatah’s old guard, and especially Arafat’s family, has a great task: Arranging a dignified death for the father of the Palestinian nation. The fact that Arafat left the stage while afflicted with a disease that one does not speak about openly, far away from his people, at a French hospital, is incommensurate with the national ethos. » Read more

Israeli officials deny Arafat poisoning rumors ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 5, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli officials on Thursday quashed recent rumors that late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died due to radiation poisoning, denying any connection to his death. Arafat passed away in a French military hospital outside Paris on Nov. 11, 2004. Hospital doctors said the specific cause of death was a massive brain hemorrhage, and Arafat has a blood disease called "disseminated intravascular coagulation," according to the Haaretz daily. The report said the ailment has a number of causes, including infections, colitis and liver disease. » Read more

Aide: Palestinian leader wants more on Arafat ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 5, 2012 - 12:00am An aide says the Palestinian leader wants more information from a Swiss lab before deciding whether to dig up the remains of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat. Doctors at the lab say they found elevated levels of the radioactive agent polonium-210 on clothing reportedly worn by Arafat before his death in November 2004. The lab says the findings don't prove Arafat was poisoned. Experts are divided over whether an autopsy, sought by Arafat's widow, could clear up a lingering mystery surrounding the cause of Arafat's death. » Read more