July 13th

Britain's MI6 chief: Iran two years away from becoming nuclear power ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - July 13, 2012 - 12:00am In an unusually frank briefing to senior British civil servants, Sir John Sawers, the chief of MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service said that British agents have been active against Iran's nuclear program since 2008. Despite their efforts though, Sawers said that Iran would likely achieve nuclear capability by 2014. » Read more

Attacks on Palestinians continue, but police only arrest leftist activists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - (Opinion) July 13, 2012 - 12:00am Graffiti in Hebrew reading "death to Arabs" and "revenge" were found Wednesday night painted on a water tank in the eastern part of the Palestinian village of Susya in the southern Hebron Hills, not far from the settlement of Susya. Similar slogans had been painted 10 days earlier on crumbling limestone along the road. » Read more

30 Palestinians wounded in fireworks explosion near Ramallah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 13, 2012 - 12:00am At least 30 Palestinians were wounded early Friday by an explosion of fireworks when they were celebrating a wedding ceremony in a small town near the West Bank city of Ramallah, witnesses and medics said. Medics at a Ramallah hospital said 30 people were brought to the hospital with various injuries, adding that four of them were in serious conditions. Witnesses said the explosion occurred suddenly while some relatives and families were celebrating and dancing during the wedding ceremony in a wedding hall in the town of Termes'aya, north of Ramallah. » Read more

Israeli troops kill man crossing illegally from Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters July 13, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli troops shot dead a man trying to infiltrate the Sinai border with Egypt and wounded another on Friday, the Israeli military said, in the latest in a series of deadly incidents along a once quiet frontier. Both men, who crossed the desert border under cover of darkness, turned out to be unarmed when Israeli medics found them after dawn, a military spokeswoman said. She would not divulge the identities or nationalities of the infiltrators though Israeli media said they were Palestinians from the nearby Gaza Strip. » Read more

Who’s scared of Olmert? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Sima Kadmon - (Opinion) July 12, 2012 - 12:00am What does the acquittal of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have to do with the law on military service equality? Well, in politics, just like in nature, one thing is related to another. » Read more

UNESCO chair at Gaza University angers Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ian Deitch - July 12, 2012 - 12:00am Israel has condemned UNESCO's decision to establish a chair at the Islamic University of Gaza, calling the institution "a breeding ground for terrorists." Israel's foreign ministry said Thursday that "(Palestinian militant group) Hamas uses Gaza University laboratories to develop and produce explosives and rockets and has even run a course on explosive making." Gaza militants often bomb southern Israel with mortars and rockets. » Read more

Ehud Olmert could be Israel's comeback kid – and make peace with Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Nir Eisikovits - (Opinion) July 12, 2012 - 12:00am The July 10 acquittal of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from most of the corruption charges against him is a watershed moment for the Jewish state and, perhaps, for the whole region. » Read more

Committee: Arafat died from unknown poison ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 13, 2012 - 12:00am The head of a medical committee investigating the death of Yasser Arafat said Thursday that the late President died from poisoning, but not could not confirm the use of a radioactive element called polonium. Abdullah Al-Basheer, a doctor in Jordan, made the comments during a press conference in Ramallah. While not being able to confirm the use of polonium, the element can still not be excluded from current investigations, he said. » Read more

Arafat sister: Don't exhume late leader's body ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 13, 2012 - 12:00am A sister of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is not among those, including his widow, calling for the Palestinian Authority to exhume the body in the wake new questions about his death. "Leave him to rest in his soil,” Khadija Arafat said Thursday, saying she has been overwhelmed with media inquiries following an Al Jazeera investigation that raised the possibility Arafat was poisoned. » Read more

New Arafat medical file released in death probe ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Karin Laub - July 12, 2012 - 12:00am Medical files released for the first time Thursday portray Yasser Arafat as a robust 75-year-old whose sudden health crisis, a month before his mysterious 2004 death, was initially blamed on viral gastroenteritis. The treatment notes by Arafat's Arab doctors who cared for him at his West Bank compound before he was airlifted to France are part of a renewed push to find out what killed the Palestinian leader. » Read more