This morning the Times online reports on controversy surrounding the creation of a Qatar-backed one billion dollar fund announced at an Arab League meeting this week, which is designated for programmes which will maintain the “Arab and Islamic character” of Jerusalem. The report says that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the creation of the fund to counter attempts to “Judaise East Jerusalem” but Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman described it as a “badge of shame” for Qatar, condemning any objections to the Jewish identification with Jerusalem. The report also notes Palestinian public scepticism that the money pledged this week at the Arab League will ever materialise.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph online says that the Home Office believes up to one hundred British Muslims are fighting in Syria alongside the Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra, which has connections to al-Qaeda. The report says there are fears that these fighters will use their military experience in Syria to carry out attacks back in the UK or elsewhere. A comment piece in The Sun warns that it is almost inevitable that chemical weapons will be used in the fighting in Syria, which could precipitate the direct military involvement of Western forces, including those from the UK. The online edition of the Telegraph says that Syrian opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib has strongly condemned the United States’ refusal to use Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to help protect Syrians in opposition-controlled parts of the country. The online editions of the Guardian, Times, Telegraph and Independent all report that the Prime Minister’s wife, Samantha Cameron yesterday visited a Syrian refugee camp in neighbouring Lebanon in her role as an ambassador for Save The Children. On her first solo foreign trip, she expressed “shock” and “horror” at the suffering of Syrian children who have fled the fighting.

In the Israeli media, several stories make the headlines. In Yediot Ahronot, attention is focused on Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s announcement yesterday via Facebook that he will “do the right thing” and make difficult cuts to the budget with Finance Ministry officials currently working on a set of austerity measures for his approval. The report also says that Lapid will take particular steps to integrate more ultra-Orthodox men and Arab women into the Israeli workforce, including a cut in child allowances and more stringent criteria for unemployment eligibility.

Maariv’s front page is devoted to the opening of an Israeli field hospital in the Golan Heights, designed to help treat a growing number of Syrians wounded in the country’s civil war, who are finding their way to Israel’s border for treatment. Maariv says that eleven Syrians have been given medical attention in Israel over the past month with seven treated yesterday, including two who were transferred to the Ziv Hospital in Safed with severe head wounds.

Several publications also report that several serious traffic accidents yesterday left seven Israelis dead and many others injured. Yesterday was the first intermediary day of the Passover holiday, traditionally a very busy time on Israel’s roads with schools and some work places closed for the week. Israel Hayom’s front page calls it a “Lethal holiday on the roads,” while Haaretz, Maariv and Yediot Ahronot also make yesterday’s road deaths one of their top stories.