The Independent, the Financial Times and the Daily Mail via AFP report that Palestinian leaders voted to call for the suspension of recognition of Israel in a move with potentially deep implications, as they met in response to US President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Palestinian officials voted to have the PLO cease recognising Israel until it dissolves its annexation of East Jerusalem, halts settlement-building and recognises a Palestinian State, according to reports. While withdrawing the PLO’s recognition of Israel could spark an international backlash, it was unclear whether the vote was binding. In a statement, the delegates also backed comments on Sunday by Abbas that the Oslo peace accords of the early 1990s, which form the basis of the Palestinians’ relations with Israel, were “finished”.

The Telegraph, the Daily Express and the Daily Mail report that the British tourist who vanished in the Israeli desert left behind a strange trail of torn out Bible pages, leading to search teams to suspect he was suffering from psychotic delusions known as  “Jerusalem Syndrome”. Oliver McAfee, a 29-year-old gardener from Northern Ireland, went missing in late November while cycling through the Negev desert in southern Israel and has not been seen or heard from since. An Israeli police search team discovered a series of pages ripped from the Bible carefully weighed down with rocks in the area that he was last seen. Other handwritten notes quoting Bible verses were also discovered. Some of the notes included references to the story of Jesus fasting in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. Search teams scoured the texts for clues to Mr McAfee’s location but came away empty handed.

BBC News Online reports on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India. India and Israel have hailed the “dawn of a new era” in their relations after signing key deals in the defence, agriculture and aviation sectors. Netanyahu’s visit comes a year after Mr Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel. Netanyahu arrived in Delhi on Sunday for a six-day visit along with a 130-member business delegation. The two countries also signed deals where they agreed to cooperate in areas including cyber-defence, security and science. Modi said he wanted the two countries to “scale up” their partnership. According to the Independent, Netanyahu he said he was “disappointed” when India voted against Trump‘s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In a separate article, BBC News Online continues its coverage of Moshe Holtzberg’s return to Mumbai nearly 10 years following the Mumbai Attacks that took the lives of both his parents.

The Daily Mail reports that an Israeli military court has ruled that Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi should be held in custody for at least two more days after she was arrested when a video showed her hitting two Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers. Tamimi was ordered to be detained until Wednesday to allow the court time to decide whether she should be allowed out on bail ahead of her trial. Prosecutors are seeking to have her kept in custody until her trial ends. Tamimi’s lawyer Gaby Lasky argued in court that her continued detention violates international conventions since she is a minor.

The Daily Mail via AFP and the Times report that Lebanese authorities have banned Steven Spielberg’s latest film, political thriller “The Post”, and Australian drama “Jungle” to comply with a boycott of Israel. Spielberg “is blacklisted by the Arab League’s boycott office, which Lebanon complies with”, the official explained. The pan-Arab body maintains a regional boycott of Israel, and blacklisted Spielberg after he donated $1 million to Israel during its 2006 war with Lebanon.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that the autopsy of a disabled Palestinian protester killed in December showed Israeli fire was responsible for his death, a Hamas-affiliated commission in Gaza said Monday. Ibrahim Abu Thurayeh died on 15 December during protests and clashes along the Israel-Gaza border against US President Donald Trump’s controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The IDF said earlier this month it was opening an investigation into the death of the 29-year-old after previously saying it was not able to determine whether he had been killed by its soldiers’ fire.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that Israel’s justice ministry said Monday it had fined pharmaceutical giant Teva $22m for bribing foreign officials in a settlement that spares the company a potential criminal trial. The deal signed on Sunday comes a month after Teva announced plans to cut 14 000 jobs globally, triggering strikes in Israel and pressure from the government and the powerful Histadrut labour union. The fine was over Teva paying bribes to foreign officials to win business in Russia, Ukraine and Mexico, the ministry said.

The Times reports that the suspected kingpin of a €3m organ-trafficking ring has been arrested in Cyprus after a decade on the run. Moshe Harel, an Israeli citizen, is now facing extradition to Kosovo. It was in a clinic in Pristina, the Kosovan capital, that Mr Harel and a medical team are alleged to have taken kidneys from poor donors from Turkey and the former Soviet Union and transplanted them to rich recipients, mainly from Israel. The gang paid €15,000 for each kidney and sold them on for €100 000.

The Guardian has published an opinion column by Medea Benjamin the American co-founder of the peace group CodePink, on the topic of the “BDS blacklist”. She concluded that: “In the face of Israel’s increasingly draconian attempts to suppress nonviolent activists at home and abroad, we will strengthen our principled work in support of freedom and justice for all people in Israel/Palestine”.

The Guardian reports that The nephew of the assassinated Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat has announced he will not run in March’s presidential election, blaming an environment of fear surrounding the vote.

The Times and the Guardian report that Turkey has launched an attack on a US-backed Kurdish militia operating in northwestern Syria after President Erdogan vowed to “tear down” the group’s border strongholds. Convoys of Turkish tanks are lining up outside Afrin, a small island of territory in Idlib province controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Ahead of an all-out assault, the Turkish army is pounding the area with artillery from its positions inside Idlib.

In the Israeli media Maariv leads with the view that, despite the rhetoric, Israeli security officials were unperturbed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech since he reiterated his opposition to armed struggle.  Furthermore, the security coordination between the PA and Israeli security forces has continued as usual. According to an IDF intelligence assessment, Abbas was on the last lap of his career, the paper assesses, “because he can sense the end, the IDF believes that Abu Mazen is displaying renewed vigour and energy. He is not wavering in the reconciliation negotiations with Hamas, and he is now displaying outspokenness and independence toward the Trump administration, which is viewed as hostile to the Palestinian issue.” Writing in Haaretz former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro reflects on Abbas’s speech, saying: “His bizarre description of Israel as colonial creation of European powers, his canard that Israel has no organic connection to Jewish history, is completely inconsistent with any plausible logic of accepting a two-state deal. His accusation of Israel importing drugs to poison Palestinian youth is shameful. And his ardent defence of the payments made to Palestinian terrorists in prison tells Israelis, Palestinians, and the US Congress that he will not educate Palestinians to give up violence directed at civilians in their struggle for independence.”

All the papers cover Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India.  Yediot Ahronot reveals that among the talks between Israel and India this week there are efforts to establish direct flights between the two countries that would fly over Saudi Arabia.  At present all Israeli flights destined for the East have to circumvent Saudi Arabia which adds considerable time and expense.  Maariv notes the symbolism of laying a wreath at Gandhi’s grave.

Kan Radio News reports that the Kerem Shalom crossing for goods reopened this morning, three days after it was closed because of the unearthing of the Hamas tunnel that had been dug underneath it. The IDF Spokesperson’s Office announced that that the Southern Command had completed its demolition of the tunnel and had put an end to the security threat that it had posed.

Haaretz report that a Palestinian man was killed yesterday by IDF gunfire in clashes between dozens of young men and a military force in a village near Qalqiliya.  The IDF confirmed that a demonstration had opened near the village of Jayyus, in which Palestinians hurled stones at soldiers, who responded by means of dispersing demonstrations and then firing live ammunition until the crowd dispersed.

Maariv continues to follow the protests of Foreign Ministry officials who are complaining about their lack of funding and the decision to close several missions around the world.  The protestors held up banners “proud but broke” and “let us serve with respect”.  The paper notes that following the proposed cuts, the Palestinian Authority will have more delegations in the world than Israel.

Yediot Ahronot notes Government ministers have given themselves a substantial increase in salary. This is juxtaposed with anger by the disability activists that have been campaigning for three years for an increase in their allowance and are still waiting, while the ministers pay rise happened in one day.

Israel Hayom questions the State Comptroller’s double standard dealing with leaks.  The State Comptroller Yosef Shapira declares that he is fighting leaks from his office, but according to the Movement for Governance and Democracy, he rarely turns to the Attorney-General to investigate them.