The Financial Times online says that both American and Israeli officials are optimistic that US Secretary of State John Kerry’s framework for final status talks will be agreed by Israeli and Palestinian officials within weeks. One of the sources for optimism cited is comments made by BICOM Senior Visiting Fellow, Michael Herzog. However, the article also notes that Palestinian leaders are not upbeat on peace prospects and that right-wing Israeli politicians have expressed their disquiet over aspects of the proposed framework.

In an opinion piece in the Guardian online, lawyer and left-wing Israeli activist Daniel Seidemann argues that protestations by Israeli leaders that Jerusalem must remain undivided ignores the reality in which the city is very much divided between Jewish and Arab areas.

The Guardian, Independent and the Times all cover yesterday’s protest by an estimated 10,000 African migrants in front of the Knesset in Jerusalem. The migrants have demonstrated in large numbers throughout this week for better treatment and for their asylum applications to be processed. The Guardian notes that prominent Israeli author David Grossman joined yesterday’s protest and commented “The idea of Israel contains the idea of refugees.”

The Times also reports that former-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw yesterday told a press conference in Tehran that he supports Iran’s nuclear rights for peaceful purposes. Straw is leading a four-man UK parliamentary delegation to Iran.

The Guardian and online edition of the Independent both report that the second hearing in the trial of deposed Egyptian leader Mohammed Morsi was postponed yesterday until February, due to bad weather which prevented authorities from transporting Morsi from Alexandria to Cairo. Among the charges brought against him by Egypt’s military rulers, Morsi is accused of collaborating with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. In the Telegraph online, Peter Oborne provides a first-hand account of Egyptian military repression following a recent visit to Cairo and warns that the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters could resort to all-out violence.

In Syria, the Times online says that the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq in Syria (ISIS) group has declared war on fellow opposition groups, calling them “apostates” and has warned that leaders of the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition are targets. Meanwhile, the Independent online reports that the Free Syrian Army, which also has Western endorsement, has said that the fracture with ISIS should pave the way for Western countries to arm its forces.

In the Israeli media, there is a variety of speculation and commentary over John Kerry’s framework plan and his diplomatic push for peace. Israel Hayom leads with comments from an unnamed senior Israeli political official who accuses Kerry of being uninformed on the intricacies of the conflict and of being motivated to broker a peace deal for his own political ambitions. Maariv’s top story is the apparent threat by Jewish Home to bolt the coalition if a framework plan specifying a return to pre-1967 borders is agreed.

Yesterday’s protest by African migrants outside the Knesset is also widely covered and is a particularly prominent story in Yediot Ahronot, Haaretz and Makor Rishon. Writing in Maariv, commentator Ben-Dror Yemini says that the migrants must be treated humanely and “The fact that they are economic migrants, or that their mass entry to Israel is an ongoing fiasco, need not undermine their human rights.”

Another major story is Education Minister Shai Piron’s announcement of an overhaul to the high school testing system. The reforms include a massive reduction in the number of matriculation exams, which have been a benchmark for high school graduation in an attempt to encourage more in-depth and meaningful learning. Piron’s plans will also reduce the importance of the psychometric test, another stringent exam, in the university application process. Yediot Ahronot’s headline says “Fewer tests, less memorizing,” while Israel Hayom and Makor Rishon also give Piron’s reforms plenty of prominent column inches.