In the UK and international press today, all papers cover Syrian President Bashar Assad’s address to the Syrian people yesterday. The papers note that Assad promised reforms within months and blamed saboteurs for the ongoing violence and protests. The Daily Telegraph reports that for the first time a Picasso art piece is on display in a small art school in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Several papers note that former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who is due to stand trial in August, is suffering from stomach cancer.

In the Israeli press, Haaretz notes that during a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel needs to part from the Palestinians and relinquish portions of the West Bank in order to preserve Israel’s Jewish majority. The paper also notes that a Palestinian survey revealed that the majority of Palestinians want Salaam Fayyad to remain as prime minister in the new Palestinian interim government. Meanwhile, IBA Radio and the Jerusalem Post note that Daniel Taub has been appointed as the next Israeli ambassador to the UK, pending Cabinet approval. The Jerusalem Post and Ynetnews note that PA President Mahmoud Abbas said that the US has the power to stop the Palestinians seeking recognition of statehood at the UN General Assembly if they manage to renew peace negotiations. The Jerusalem Post notes Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told cabinet members to find solutions to the rising price of dairy goods, after public outrage over price hikes led to a consumer campaign to boycott cottage cheese that began last week. Most papers report on the open-ended general strike over Doctor’s working conditions, after intensive overnight talks between the doctors’ union representatives, Health Ministry and Finance Ministry officials failed to resolve the dispute.