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Media Summary

Israel expects Turkish reconciliation to continue despite attempted coup

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The Daily Star and Daily Express report that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has released a video appeal to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to join him in efforts to make peace. In the clip, Netanyahu urged Abbas to “teach tolerance not terror,” and in particular to end the practice in which the PA pays subsidies to those who have carried out terrorist attacks and their families.

The Metro reports that a major terror attack was prevented yesterday, when a Palestinian man in his twenties was stopped and arrested in central Jerusalem as he attempted to board the city’s light railway system. He was found to be carrying three pipe bombs and knives.

In coverage of the attempted coup in Turkey over the weekend, the Telegraph and Financial Times mention the reconciliation agreement, which was recently finalised between Israel and Turkey. The accord restores diplomatic relations between the two countries, following a six-year hiatus. The Turkish parliament is set to approve the reconciliation deal this week.

Meanwhile, the online editions of the Guardian and Telegraph report that troops loyal to the al-Assad regime are tightening a siege of the major Syrian city of Aleppo. The reports also say that the prospect of a joint US-Russian effort to tackle Islamist groups such as ISIS is viewed by the opposition as a boost to Assad’s ambitions. Should Aleppo fall into government hands, it will be viewed as a major moment in the Syrian Civil War.

The Financial Times says that Iran has opened talks with Rolls Royce and Siemens over investment in the country’s energy infrastructure. It comes almost exactly a year after Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) agreed a deal over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

In the Israeli media, the top story in Maariv, which is also covered prominently in Yediot Ahronot, Haaretz and Israel Hayom, is an incident yesterday in which an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) entered Israeli airspace from Syria over the Golan Heights. Two Israeli Patriot missiles attempted to shoot down the drone, but failed to intercept it. Israel Radio news says that it is still unclear who was responsible for sending the UAV, with media speculation that it could have been Syrian forces, Hezbollah, or even Russian forces. Writing in Israel Hayom, Yoav Limor says that the Israeli military has launched an investigation into the incident, but that “all signs indicate that this was a failure of the air defence array”.

The top story in Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom is another incident on the Golan Heights yesterday, in which two soldiers on a patrol were killed after a grenade being carried by a member of their team exploded. The circumstances of the incident remain unclear, but Israel Radio news says that a panel, chaired by an officer of the rank of colonel, has been formed to investigate the circumstances surrounding it. The funeral of one of the soldiers killed, Hussam Tafesh, will take place today. The other soldier who died was named as Shlomo Rindenau.

The top story in Haaretz, which is also a focus in Israel Hayom, is the mass arrests taking place in Turkey, following Friday’s failed coup attempt. Yediot Ahronot carries an interview with the CNN Turk journalist who broadcast Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Facetime interview as the coup attempt got underway, in which he appealed for the people to rally against the military revolt.