The Daily Telegraph reports that talks to save Israeli-Palestinian peace talks continued yesterday without success, with Palestinian sources quoted accusing their Israeli counterparts of threatening them.

Meanwhile the Financial Times features a letter from Professor Geoffrey Alderman accusing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of unwillingness of unwillingness to compromise.

The Independent and the Guardian both have features on the Palestinian Authority’s elite Presidential Guard which has recently recruited its first female members.

The Times has an article reporting that opinion in the region is that President Assad will hang on to power for another decade, but would preside over a fractured country similar to Lebanon in the 1980s. The article quotes among others former Mossad head of intelligence Amnon Sofrin.

Most of the UK papers have more reports on Syria online, including reports in the Guardian, Telegraph and Independent, and on the BBC, on the murder of a Dutch priest in Homs.

The Times also has a report online on the surge of hangings in Iran since President Rouhani came to power, whilst the Guardian reports that Iran has reacted angrily to a European parliament resolution calling on diplomats to shine a spotlight on Iranian human rights abuses.

The broadcast and online media in Israel this morning is dominated by an early morning clash between the IDF and extremist settlers in the outpost of Yitzhar in the West Bank, where the military moved in to demolish four building constructed without permits.

Israel Radio also has reports of further talks last night between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators,  in an effort to find a package to extend negotiations. They quote Arab media sources with various accounts of the talk, including disagreements over sequencing of any package involving prisoner releases, proposals on the Israeli side for a meeting between leaders Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu, and a Palestinian proposal to return to talks for two months with the goal of agreeing borders.

The most widely covered story on Israel front pages this morning is on-going investigations into the behaviour of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – convicted last week for bribery. Olmert was questioned by police on Monday on suspicion of obstruction of justice following accusations by his co-defendant and former aide Shula Zaken that he pressed her not to cooperate with the prosecution. The story dominates the front pages of Israel Hayom, and also appears on the front pages of Yediot Ahronot and Haaretz.

Meanwhile Yediot Ahronot trails an interview with Moshe Kahlon, a highly popular politician who quit the Knesset and the Likud party before the last election but is expected to mount a comeback promoting a socioeconomic agenda. Kahlon accuses the Likud of being taken over by the extreme right. Israel Hayom also covers on its front page a report by the State Comptroller accusing the government of not doing enough to address poverty in Israel, a report which has also received wide coverage in the broadcast media.

Both the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz highlight comments by Foreign Minister and Yisrael Beitenu party leader Avigdor Lieberman, hinting at his ambition to become Prime Minister.