The Times today notes UK Foreign Secretary William Hague’s somber assessment of the ‘Arab Spring’ six months after its beginning. The paper also has an editorial commenting on the decline of optimism regarding hopes for rapid political transformation in the Arab world, and a series of articles reflecting different views of the Arab Spring. The Guardian has a piece on the culinary attractions of Jerusalem’s Mahaneh Yehuda market area. The Financial Times notes that around 3000 Syrians have disappeared since the beginning of the uprising against the rule of President Bashar Assad. The Scotsman notes a call by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for popular resistance to secure UN recognition of Palestinian statehood. The paper also reports on accusations that both the Syrian government and the opposition are stoking sectarianism in their ongoing standoff in Syria. BBC Online notes that the Israeli authorities plan to lodge a claim for damages in the courts against a group of Bedouin who repeatedly have built dwelling places on agricultural land owned by the state. BBC Online also reports that the British court of appeals has ruled that Israeli Arab Islamist leader Sheikh Raed Salah must stay in the UK under bail conditions. The Guardian has a piece arguing that Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik’s views represent wider currents of opinion. The Times has a piece on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The Guardian notes that Rostam Ghasemi, commander of the revolutionary guards’ Khatam al-Anbia military and industrial base, has been nominated to serve as the Iranian oil minister.

In the Israeli media, the print editions of Haaretz, the Jerusalem Post and Yisrael Hayom focus on the ongoing social protests in Israel, and the threat by Histadrut leader Ofer Eini that the trade unions will join the protests. Haaretz has additional pieces on a US report recommending the ending of loan guarantees to Israel by 2011, and an article on the testimony of senior Palestinian Authority officials in an Israeli court against the detention of a Palestinian accused of terror offences. The Jerusalem Post has pieces on Israeli suspicions that the recent roadside bomb in south Lebanon was a warning by Hezbollah to UNIFIL, the British court’s decision on Raed Salah, and an article on Defence Minister Ehud Barak’s upcoming trip to the US. Ynetnews, meanwhile, notes the continued protests in Israel, and has articles on an al-Qaeda leader’s call on Syria to attack Israel, and a piece noting that US aid to Israel will not be cut back in 2012. Yisrael Hayom has pieces on US Ambassador to Israel Michael Oren’s meting with jailed spy Jonathan Pollard and a statement by Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor against Palestinian unilateralism. Maariv notes fears in the Likud that the entry of the Histadrut into social protests in Israel could endanger the government.