Excerpts: Turkey,Israel normalization. Israel solar tower program. Jordan
asks world find alternatives to aid delivery June 22, 2016

+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 22 June’16:”Turkey, Israel to agree normalisation
deal June 26 — report, by Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Turkey,Israel normalization

FULL TEXT:ISTANBUL — Turkey and Israel will this weekend announce a deal on
normalising ties, ending a six-year diplomatic crisis sparked by a deadly
Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in which 10 Turkish nationals died, a
report said Tuesday.[22 June]

The Hurriyet daily said the two sides would make the announcement during
final talks on June 26 after intensive diplomacy resulted in a compromise
agreement on the partial lifting of Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip.

A Turkish foreign ministry official, contacted by AFP, neither confirmed nor
denied a meeting between the two sides was planned this month.

Previously tight relations between Israel and key NATO member Turkey were
significantly downgraded after Israeli commandos staged a botched pre-dawn
raid on a six-ship flotilla in May 2010 as it tried to run the blockade on
Gaza.

Nine activists on board the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ferry were killed,
with a tenth person later dying of his wounds, sparking a bitter diplomatic
crisis.

Two of Turkey's key conditions for normalisation — an apology and
compensation — were largely met, leaving its third demand, that Israel lift
its blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, as the main obstacle.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in live televised
comments that "definitive progress" was made during the talks but they were
not yet finalised.

"There are three things we have kept saying since the very beginning:
apology, compensation and easing or totally lifting of blockade on Gaza," he
told the private NTV television, saying Gaza had become an "open prison".

"The agreement has not reached a final point," he said.

"God willing, it will head toward a final point in a direction we want.
Turkey is not at a point of making concessions."

Hospital, water, aid

Under terms of the deal, Israel will allow the completion of a much-needed
hospital in Gaza, as well as the construction of a new power station and a
sea water distillation plant for drinking water, Hurriyet reported.

Meanwhile, Turkey will send aid to Gaza but channel it via the Israeli Port
of Ashdod rather than sending it directly to the Palestinian enclave, the
Turkish paper said.

The announcement would be made after talks between top Turkish foreign
ministry official Feridun Sinirlioglu and Israel's pointman on Turkish
relations, Joseph Ciechanover, it added.

Hurriyet did not say where the talks would be held.

The two diplomats would then meet again in July to formally sign the
agreement after which ambassadors would return to the respective embassies
and full ties would be restored.

Israel's Haaretz daily said Israeli and Turkish negotiating teams are to
meet in a European capital on June 26 for a decisive round of talks on the
reconciliation agreement.

Hurriyet said if a deal is forged, then joint military exercises, energy
projects and joint defence investments can go ahead again.

Analysts have said Turkey may pursue a more conciliatory foreign policy
following the departure of former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who
spearheaded an aggressive and interventionist strategy.

His successor Binali Yildirim last week said he wanted no permanent tensions
with Black Sea and Mediterranean neighbours after serious ruptures not just
with Israel but also with Egypt and Russia.

Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza in June 2006 after Palestinian militants
there snatched an Israeli soldier. The restrictions were tightened a year
later when Hamas took control of the enclave, but eased significantly
following a wave of international outrage over the flotilla carnage


+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 22 June’16:”In Israeli desert, world's highest solar
tower looks to future”, by Agence France Presse

SUBJECT:Israel Solar tower program

QUOTE:”solar tower, reflecting the country’s high hopes for renewable energy

FULL TEXT:ASHALIM — In the middle of southern Israel's desert, engineers are
hard at work building the world's tallest solar tower, reflecting the
country's high hopes for renewable energy.

Once completed in late 2017, the Ashalim tower will rise to 240 metres,
taller than Paris's Montparnasse Tower and London's Gherkin, according to
the Israeli government and the consortium building it.

Covered in stainless steel, the square tower in the rocky Negev desert with
a peak resembling a giant lighthouse will be visible from dozens of
kilometres away.

A field of mirrors covering 300 hectares — the size of more than 400
football pitches — will stretch out from its base, directing sunlight toward
the tower's peak to an area called the boiler, which looks like a giant
lightbulb.

The boiler, whose temperature will rise to 600oC, generates steam that is
channelled towards the foot of the tower, where electricity is produced.

The construction, costing an estimated 650 million euros ($735 million), is
being financed by US firm General Electric, which has bought the energy
business of France's Alstom, with Israeli private investment fund Noy also
involved.

Israel's government launched a tender for the project in 2010, committing to
purchase electricity from it over 25 years as part of a shift towards
renewable energy and energy independence.

Clean at a cost

The country mainly generates electricity using plants fired by coal, natural
gas and fuel oil. Its domestic supply of natural gas has grown with the
discovery of fields in the Mediterranean.

Solar requires a major investment, though costs are gradually coming down.

Energy from a solar tower is "two to three times more expensive to produce
than classic electricity plants using carbon", for example, said Eran
Gartner, who heads the Megalim consortium managing the project.

The tower should provide 121 megawatts, or one percent of Israel's
electricity needs, enough for a city of 120,000 households.

The country of eight million people is seeking to make renewable energy
account for 10 per cent of its total consumption by 2020.

Solar power offers a clean alternative to fuel- and carbon-fired electricity
plants, which contribute to global warming with their heat-trapping CO2
emissions.

"The government agreed to move ahead with this technology — even though we
do not hide the fact that it is more expensive than traditional electricity
production — precisely to achieve lower costs over time," Gartner said at
the site.

"The second solar tower will be slightly less expensive, the third much less
expensive, et cetera."

He predicted a futuristic landscape of towers overlooking the desert.

Israel could in theory meet all its electricity needs through solar energy
by using only four percent of the Negev desert, said Eitan Parnass, head of
the Green Energy Association of Israel.

Field of mirrors

Israel's offshore gas finds are a major boost toward energy independence,
but Parnass said it must continue to diversify to avoid reliance on a single
source in the turbulent Middle East.

"We are in a situation where we cannot simply look at the economic aspect,"
he said.

"Israel has no choice but to diversify its energy independence, first for
reasons of security."

However, critics have panned the project as too expensive and complex
compared to other solutions.

Yael Cohen, an Israeli lawmaker with the opposition Zionist Union alliance
and co-chair of the Green Movement political party, said the project has
"requirements so demanding and costs so high" that it cannot be replicated.

Solar power has for years formed a part of life in Israel, where rooftop
panels are often used to heat the water tanks of homes.

A solar tower and its field of mirrors, a technology known as concentrated
solar thermal, is only profitable as part of a large-scale project, unlike a
photovoltaic field, where each panel acts as a small generator.

The Ashalim tower will be equipped with 50,600 projecting mirrors, amounting
to a total reflective surface of a million square metres.

Like sunflowers, the mirrors will turn toward the path of the sun.

Engineers have developed reservoirs for the task of storing heat when the
sun is not out.

"It's the big plus of solar tower technology... centralisation and stockage
of energy at nighttime opens the path to massive use of solar electricity in
Israel," said Parnass.

Solar towers have already been built in locations such as Morocco, South
Africa and California, where the world's tallest at present — standing at
137 metres — is located in Ivanpah in the Mojave desert.

"We multiplied the size of the mirrors by a third compared to the previous
generation," Gartner said. "Everything is connected by WiFi instead of by
cables. The tower and its boiler are also designed to reduce costs.
Everything is done to pursue profitability."




+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 22 June’16:”Jordan asks world to find alternatives
to aid delivery as border with Syria closed”,by JT

SUBJECT: Jordan asks world find alternatives to aid delivery

FULL TEXT:AMMAN — Jordan on Tuesday[21 June] told envoys of world powers and
representatives of international organisations that the Kingdom has to seal
off the part of the border where a terrorist attack killed six army and
security personnel.

“Jordan has always warned from the increase in Syrians' numbers at the
borders, especially since it has amounted to 100,000 people, most of whom
are from northern and northeastern Syria where Daesh members are located, ”
said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.

He made the remarks to the ambassadors of the Permanent Five (P5) of the UN
Security Council and the European Union, in addition to representatives of
the UNHCR and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA).

Interior Minister Salameh Hammad and Minister of State for Media Affairs
Mohammad Momani also attended the meeting.

Judeh said the terrorist attack is a solid proof of the existence of
terrorist elements among the crowds at the borders.

In light of the incident, and to protect Jordan’s security, this particular
border area must be closed, especially for individuals and vehicles,
considering it a sealed military zone.

Thus, an agreement with international organisations must be made to find
alternative means to deliver humanitarian aid to the displaced, Judeh said.

“Jordan has borne a heavy burden that no country in the world has
experienced in relation to the waves of refugees. The world must shoulder
its responsibilities and respect Jordan’s decisions, especially the ones
related to its security,” Judeh stressed.

For his part, Hammad said that the security of Jordan and its residents is a
top priority, noting that the area that witnessed the attack has members of
Daesh, smugglers and other dangerous elements that are a threat not only to
Jordanians but to aid organisations working in the area as well.

Momani said that Jordanians stand in unity against such attacks, stressing
the government’s measures to preserve Jordan’s security and safety.

For their part, the ambassadors of the P5 of the UN Security Council, the EU
and UN organisations working in Jordan, condemned the attack, stressing
their solidarity with the Kingdom as it rises to face terrorism.
================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA