The Financial Times, Independent and the online edition of the Guardian all cover the decision announced yesterday by the PLO Central Committee to recommend that the Palestinian Authority (PA) headed by President Mahmoud Abbas end security cooperation with Israel. The Financial Times suggests the potential move is an attempt to pressure Israel to release tax money it has collected on behalf of the PA, but which Israel has withheld for the third consecutive month due to the PA’s attempts to target Israel at the International Criminal Court. Security cooperation between Israel and the PA has been an important factor in ensuring relative quiet in the West Bank in recent years.

The Guardian reports that COGAT, the Israeli body responsible for administering borders with Gaza has lifted restrictions on vegetable exports from the Gaza Strip into Israel for the first time since Hamas violently seized power there in 2007. It is the latest in a series of recent relaxations in movement and access to Gaza by COGAT in an attempt to aid reconstruction.

Both the Financial Times and the online edition of the Guardian cover the latest polls in Israel since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Congressional speech on Iran’s nuclear development on Tuesday. The polls indicated a slight increase in support for Netanyahu’s Likud Party, which is running more or less neck and neck with the Zionist Union ten days before polling day.

The Financial Times and the Telegraph cover US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Saudi Arabia to reassure his hosts and nearby Gulf states over the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran. The Telegraph says that Saudi Arabia warned Kerry that Iran is attempting to take over Iraq and asked that the United States provide more direct military support. The Financial Times emphasises that Kerry assured that there would be no ‘grand bargain’ with to boost relations with Iran as a quid pro quo to a nuclear agreement.

Writing in the Guardian online, Julian Borger says that Netanyahu’s address to Congress served as a “reminder” to both the United States and Iran over the “price of failure” in negotiations, which would likely lead to either an accelerated Iranian nuclear programme or military action.

The online editions of the Telegraph and Times both report that the overall military commander of the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front in Syria has been killed in an attack near the Turkish border. However, it remains unclear who perpetrated the attack.

In the Israeli media, the top story in Yediot Ahronot is a document uncovered by Nahum Barnea, which he says is a proposed document of principles agreed to by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leaders during Netanyahu’s post-2009 government. It includes agreement to the establishment of a Palestinian state on the principle of pre-1967 borders with land swaps. The Prime Minister’s Office denied that Netanyahu had agreed to any such concessions and that the document related to American efforts to re-start talks.

Meanwhile, the lead item in Haaretz claims that US President Barack Obama is determined to promote and conclude a new Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative before he concludes his presidency.

The top story in Maariv, also covered prominently in Yediot Ahronot, is a controversial new election advert released by Likud. It depicts a mock support group for those disgruntled at government policy, including port workers, Israel Broadcasting Authority workers and Hamas terrorists. Israel Radio news quotes the head of the Histadrut workers union who said that the advert crossed a red line by comparing workers to terrorists.

With just ten days before the general election, two polls are published this morning. Israel Hayom says that Likud and Zionist Union are both predicted to win 23 Knesset seats. Meanwhile, a Maariv poll puts Zionist Union in the lead by two seats, with gains being made by Yesh Atid and Jewish Home.