The fallout from last week’s announcement that the Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas will form a unity government with Hamas, continues to generate coverage. The Telegraph online covers comments made by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to an American television network yesterday, in which he said that peace talks can resume if Abbas reverses course or if Hamas denounces terror and embraces peace.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times, Guardian, Times, Independent, Daily Mail and Independent i report that Abbas released a statement yesterday in which he described the Holocaust as “the most heinous crime” of modern humanity. His comment, which is virtually unprecedented among Palestinian leaders, came on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. All articles say Netanyahu called Abbas’ comments an attempt to soothe international public opinion and that his words are incompatible with partnering alongside Hamas, which denies the Holocaust and is committed to Israel’s destruction. An editorial in the Independent calls Netanyahu’s response “ungracious” and calls for US Secretary of State John Kerry to make one more effort to bring about peace. An editorial in the Guardian says Abbas’ pact with Hamas represents a “lost opportunity” by Israel to make peace with a genuine partner.

Both the Daily Mail and the online edition of the Telegraph cover claims that UK aid to the PA, which totalled £343 million between 2011-2015 is helping fund bonuses and salaries to convicted Palestinian terrorists in a pot reserved by the PA for those “resisting the occupation.” Both articles say Conservative MP Sir Gerald Howarth has called on the UK to suspend aid to the PA until the payments end.

Elsewhere in the region, the Financial Times says that the Syrian government has missed a deadline on disarming its nuclear weapons by continuing to maintain eight per cent of its chemical arsenal. The Guardian online says Iraq’s air force attacked a convoy in Syria, which the Iraqi government says was delivering fuel to Islamists in Iraq. The incident comes just days before elections in Iraq.

In the Israeli media, headlines focus on the country’s commemoration today of Holocaust Memorial Day, with most titles devoting several pages to the Holocaust and its memory. Yediot Ahronot’s front page headline simply states “Six million memories.” Meanwhile Israel Hayom, Makor Rishon and Maariv-NRG highlight comments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony yesterday evening, during which he said that the world has apparently not learned the lessons of the 1930s, but that Israel will defend itself against Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, Haaretz gives prominence to PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ comments yesterday, condemning the Holocaust.

Israel Radio news reports that Israeli officials believe Abbas will be able to form a unity government of non-politically affiliated technocrats. The same officials predict that if this is the case, Israel will come under international pressure to recognise such an authority, so long as it agrees to the three Quartet conditions (recognition of Israel, condemnation of violence, adherence to previous Israel-Palestinian agreements).

Haaretz says that the arguments in court prior to sentencing former-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will begin today. Olmert was convicted last month of bribery relating to his time as Mayor of Jerusalem. Various media reports have said that the state will seek a conviction of several years for Olmert.