The Telegraph reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry is frustrated at the refusal of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to recognise Israel as a Jewish State, a key point of contention at this juncture of peace talks. Kerry was in the region this weekend to promote a framework for final status talks and the Telegraph online says another weighty issue is the future of the Jordan Valley, in which Israeli leaders say they must retain a security presence, an idea rejected by the PA. The Guardian online focuses on Kerry’s visit to Saudi Arabia yesterday, during which Kerry indicated he had successfully enlisted Saudi support for his proposed framework.

The Guardian, Financial Times, Independent i and the Times all report a demonstration yesterday in Tel Aviv by an estimated 10,000 African migrants, protesting against their unresolved asylum claims and the recent opening of a detention facility to house many of them in the south of Israel. It is estimated that more than 50,000 African migrants have entered Israel illegally since 2006 via the country’s border with Egypt. The vast majority have not had their status determined.

The Daily Mirror, Independent i and Daily Mail all cover the continuing deteriorating health of Israel’s former-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is described by some of the reports as “near death.”

The Times, Independent and Independent i cover yesterday’s announcement by Pope Francis that he will visit Israel, the Palestinian areas of the West Bank and Jordan during a visit in May. He will become the fourth Pope to visit Israel.

The Independent includes a lengthy feature by Mary Dejevsky on the impact dwindling numbers of Holocaust survivors will have on Holocaust memory and specifically Israeli collective identity. The article heavily features the work of Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and education centre.

In the Telegraph online, there is a feature on Palestinian start-ups in the West Bank, centred in Ramallah and on the challenges they face from Israeli restrictions and Palestinian bureaucracy.

Both Independent i and online edition of the Guardian say Czech police have announced that 12 illegal weapons were found at the Palestinian embassy complex in Prague, where the Palestinian envoy last week was killed by a mysterious explosion.

A Guardian editorial criticises the “senseless” Iran-Saudi Arabia rivalry in the Middle East which has recently been violently exposed in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.  The article argues that both sides must realize that they will never achieve Sunni or Shi’ite regional supremacy.

Meanwhile, the online editions of the Times and Financial Times report that deadly clashes have taken place among rival Islamist Sunni opposition forces in Syria.

Two stories dominate the front pages of the Israeli media this morning. The first is the comments made yesterday by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman at a conference of Israeli ambassadors in Jerusalem, at which he voiced support for John Kerry’s peace initiative. Lieberman’s speech, in which he also said that a peace deal would have to include land swaps and possible uprooting of populations, is the headline in Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot, whose headline reads “Lieberman: The American offer is the best we’ll get.” It is also a prominent story in Israel Hayom and Makor Rishon. Meanwhile, Makor Rishon also says Israeli officials wish to extend the current peace talks by a year, while Maariv reports that Kerry is pressuring Prime Minister Netanyahu to agree to text within an American position paper, which would imply the return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.

The other major story is the large protest held yesterday by African migrants in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, who demanded better treatment by Israeli authorities. Maariv and Haaretz both estimate that as many as 20,000 protestors took part in the demonstration which is also covered prominently by Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom.