In the UK and international press today, BBC Online and Reuters note that the UN Security Council began consultations over the Palestinian application for full state membership. Reuters carries a piece on the Palestinian effort to secure votes from members of the Security Council for its statehood application. Meanwhile, BBC Online notes that the gas pipeline from Egypt, which supplies Israel and Jordan, was attacked again yesterday, marking the sixth time it has been attacked since former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted. The Guardian and the Telegraph report that an Israeli court awarded financial compensation to the father of a Palestinian girl who was killed by rubber bullet fired from an Israeli border policeman in 2007. The Independent carries a piece by Robert Fisk on Jerusalem and the 1967 borderlines. In other news, most papers note that in a joint project Google and the Israel Museum have digitalised the Dead Sea Scrolls and uploaded the content online.

In the Israeli front pages today, all papers lead with the Trajtenberg panel’s recommendations for socioeconomic change.

Meanwhile, Haaretz notes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his senior cabinet of eight ministers today to discuss Israel’s response to the Quartet proposal to immediately renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians. The Jerusalem Post notes that German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to PA President Mahmoud Abbas over the phone and urged the Palestinian leader to accept the Quartet’s proposal to restart negotiations immediately. All papers note that the Egyptian pipeline in Sinai supplying gas to Israel and Jordan was attacked and exploded yesterday. Haaretz reports that Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said yesterday that political negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians should take place in order to create a Palestinian state. All papers note that, on the eve of the Jewish New Year, Israel’s population stands at 7.8 million.