The Financial Times online covers a controversial decision by Israel’s antitrust regulator to recommend that the courts order the two companies spearheading the development of Israeli natural gas to end their effective monopoly and open the market to greater competition. The vast Leviathan and Tamar gas fields have been hailed as regional energy game-changers since their discovery four years ago. However, the article suggests that the decision of the antitrust regulator will raise fears in the energy industry and beyond that Israel is an over-regulated and increasingly unfavourable place to do business.

In the Independent and Independent i, Kim Sengupta continues his eyewitness account of rebuilding efforts in the wake of Operation Protective Edge. His latest instalment focuses on the ongoing difficulties and uncertainty facing those who have managed to rebuild homes and factories.

In a variety of Christmas-related items, the Financial Times online includes a feature on Jerusalem’s bagpipe-playing Christian Palestinian scout groups, who are preparing for a Christmas band march. The article emphasises that scouting and indeed the bagpipes are a remnant of the British Mandate period. The Independent online says that Bethlehem is suffering from increasingly crippling traffic congestion and so municipal authorities are considering constructing a tunnel underneath Manger Square to relieve the situation. The Telegraph reports that several archaeologists believe that Jesus was not born in Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, as traditionally thought, but in fact in the small town by the same name in northern Israel’s Galilee region.

The Times includes a feature on the plight of the region’s Christians, who it says are “facing Middle East wipeout,” especially in Iraq and Syria where Islamists have persecuted Christians who have lived in the area for millennia. In Syria itself, the Guardian says that government and rebel forces are gearing up for a battle for control of Aleppo, which could be a defining moment in the Syrian Civil War. The article quotes rebels who say that some elements of the Syrian army are taking orders from Hezbollah.

In the Israeli media, a major item in Israel Hayom, Yediot Ahronot and Haaretz is the decision yesterday by the Antitrust Regulator, David Gilo against permitting the two principle investors in Israel’s natural gas fields to retain what it considers a monopoly on the industry. According to Israel Radio news, United States officials have asked for “clarifications” on the issue and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has referred the matter to the Director of the National Economic Council. In Yediot Ahronot, economics commentator Sever Plocker says that Gilo’s decision did not take into account “far-reaching and profound repercussions for the Israeli economy and Israeli society,” with the future of natural gas development now uncertain and potential investors likely to be wary of over-regulation.

Haaretz reports that Foreign Minister and Yisrael Beitenu head Avigdor Lieberman has said that Netanyahu’s policy of maintaining the status quo with the Palestinians has failed and that Israel must take the diplomatic initiative or else face deteriorating relations with the West and especially Europe.

Meanwhile, Maariv and Israel Hayom cover Netanyahu’s response to Labour leader Isaac Herzog and Hatnuah head Tzipi Livni’s statement that the Western Wall will always remain under Israeli control. Netanyahu challenged the two leaders, who head a joint electoral list, to outline exactly what a diplomatic arrangement would look like under their leadership, questioning whether the Western Wall would be little more than just an “enclave.”