The Independent, Independent i and online edition of the Guardian all report that the Jerusalem Municipality yesterday approved the construction of 558 homes in the city beyond Israel’s pre-1967 border. Although yesterday’s decision was just one of several planning and approval stages before construction might begin, the announcement was criticised by Palestinian leaders as disruptive to the current peace talks.

The Guardian online says two Israel Air Force pilots have been sentenced to five days in a military prison after it was found that they had stored operational maps on their mobile phones.

The Telegraph, Times and the online edition of the Guardian all report that US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned his French counterpart Laurent Fabius over a large French trade mission which visited Iran to investigate potential business opportunities. Kerry said that Iran was not yet “open for business”, with the international sanctions regime still very much in place. The Independent online says numerous foreign trade delegations, in addition to the French, are visiting Iran.

Both the Independent and the online edition of the Financial Times include features on internal opposition within Iran from hard-line leaders against steps to normalise Tehran’s relations with the international community.

The online editions of the Guardian, Telegraph and Times all cover a United Nations’ report which says the Assad regime in Syria is guilty of having tortured, maimed and abused children. Meanwhile, the Guardian online and the Telegraph online say Syria has missed a deadline in the programme to dismantle its chemical stockpile. Prime Minister David Cameron said only four per cent of the stocks have been removed from the country. The Times online reports that two British men, one from Portsmouth and another from the Manchester have been killed in Syria fighting for radical Islamist opposition groups.

An editorial in the Independent praises US Secretary of State John Kerry’s energy in trying to resolve the Syrian conflict, broker an agreement over Iran’s nuclear development and instigate peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. However, it questions whether he has enough support from colleagues in the Obama administration.

In the Israeli media, the top story focuses on developments in the proposed legislation to create a more equitable military draft, including the more comprehensive enlistment of ultra-Orthodox seminary students. Both Maariv and Makor Rishon suggest Jewish Home and Yesh Atid have finally reached agreement that the law should specify that those who evade the draft will face criminal prosecution rather than just economic sanctions. The issue has been a sticking point between the two parties. Meanwhile, Yediot Ahronot summarizes an advanced copy of the bill as it currently stands.

Maariv also reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s special envoy Isaac Molcho, met with Palestinian leader Mohammed Dahlan, who apparently is being tipped to succeed President Mahmoud Abbas at the head of the Palestinian Authority. Dahlan is the former director of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service; he was banished from the Fatah faction but is thought to have ambitions to return to prominence.

Israel Radio news reports comments made by US Secretary of State John Kerry in an interview with CNN in which he appeared to brush off criticism levelled at him by some Israeli leaders this week and said he believes the majority of Israelis and Palestinians want peace.