The BBC speaks to Palestinian officials visiting Riyadh for discussions with the Saudis on the Kingdom’s potential normalisation deal with Israel. “The team of top Palestinian officials in Riyadh – including the two men seen as closest to President Mahmoud Abbas, the PA’s intelligence chief, Majed Faraj, and Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation,” it writes, “met Saudi national security adviser Musaed al-Aiban on Wednesday, according to a senior Palestinian official familiar with the discussions.”

“Their list of demands in return for engaging with the American-backed process was set out during a meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf last week in Amman. The Palestinian official told the BBC the demands include:

• Transferring parts of the West Bank currently under full Israeli control (known as Area C under the 1990s Oslo peace accords) to the governance of the Palestinian Authority
• A ‘complete cessation’ of Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank
• Resuming Saudi financial support to the PA, which slowed from 2016 and stopped completely three years ago, to the tune of around $200m (£160m) per year
• Re-opening the US consulate in Jerusalem – the diplomatic mission to the Palestinians – that was shut down by President Donald Trump
• Resuming US-brokered negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians from where they stopped under then-Secretary of State John Kerry in 2014.”

The BBC also features reaction to news this week of a speech made by Abbas last month to the Fatah Revolutionary Council and aired in Palestinian TV. In it, the Palestinian Authority President said: “They say that Hitler killed the Jews for being Jews, and that Europe hated the Jews because they were Jews. No. It was clearly explained that they fought them because of their social role and not their religion.” In other remarks, Abbas declared that “European Jews are not Semites” – an attempt to deny the historic connection of Jews to the Middle East. In response to Abbas’s lies and historical inventions, German ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert said: “the Palestinians deserve to hear the historical truth from their leader, not such distortions.” Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, meanwhile, said of Abbas’s comments that “this is the true face of Palestinian ‘leadership’… The world must wake up and hold Abbas and his Palestinian Authority accountable for the hatred they spew and the ensuing bloodshed it causes. There must be zero tolerance for Palestinian incitement and terror!”

The Independent reports from Gaza, where “Israel closed the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing late on Monday after saying it had discovered explosives hidden in a shipment of Zara jeans and other clothing bound for the West Bank — one of the main markets for Gaza’s tiny export sector. Israeli officials fear the explosives were bound for Palestinian militants in the West Bank. Israel has not said when the crossing will reopen.”

The Independent features the discovery of a cache of “excellently preserved” 1,900-year-old Roman swords in a cave in En Gedi in the Judean Desert Nature Reserve near the Dead Sea. “The hiding of the swords… in deep cracks in the isolated cave… hints that the weapons were taken as booty from Roman soldiers or from the battlefield, and purposely hidden by the Judean rebels for reuse,” said Eitan Klein, one of the directors of the survey project which made the discovery.

All the Israeli media covers the right-wing rally held last night in support of the government’s judicial reforms. The protest took place prior to next week’s Supreme Court hearing of a petition seeking to overturn the government’s amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary annulling the court’s use of the reasonability principle. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich yesterday addressed a demonstration outside the Supreme Court and said to court President Hayut: “Do not dare strike down a basic law… Striking down a basic law means the end of democracy.”

Yediot Ahronot reports that the question of what to do should the court vote to strike down has provoked a “fierce internal clash” in the Likud and that at least five senior ministers have said in closed-door meetings that despite their firm opposition to striking down a basic law, they will respect the ruling of the Supreme Court. “Unofficially,” it writes, “two camps are consolidating in the Likud: one that publicly says it will not respect a High Court of Justice ruling, and the other that argues that despite the difficulty, there is no choice but to obey.”

In contrast, as detailed by Yediot Ahronot, other Likud ministers addressed the protest and made defiant and even threatening remarks addressed to the court and the Attorney General. Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan said: “Gali Baharav-Miara [the AG], if you throw our vote into the garbage—you’ll have to mess with me.” Minister for Advancing the Status of Women May Golan, meanwhile, accused the anti-reform demonstrators of “desecrating the word democracy” and promised: “Even if we have to battle for ten years, as long as I am in the government and Knesset, I will not let you steal the country—which is what you want to do. We will fight to pass the reform.”

In the lead-up to the hearing, Kan Radio reports a “difficult” meeting on Wednesday between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Moody’s credit agency. Members of the agency, which has previously warned Israel of the potential damage the judicial reforms might inflict on its credit rating, visited Israel and “firmly demanded clarifications regarding the promotion of the legislation and the possibility of reaching a compromise.” Yesterday the dollar spiked against the shekel by over one percent, resulting in an exchange rate of approximately 3.85 shekels to the dollar.

Yediot Ahronot’s Sima Kadmon writes on the apparent failure of the latest judicial reform compromise attempt spearheaded by President Herzog this week. “One can ask again,” she writes, “the question that comes up every time: to what extent can Netanyahu actually be a negotiating partner when the person in control is Yariv Levin? In other words: this week, as on the night when Gallant was fired; as in the vote on the Knesset’s representatives to the Judges Selection Committee when Netanyahu wanted to elect an opposition representative and Levin and Ben Gvir overturned him; as in the vote to abolish the grounds of reasonableness, when Gallant spoke with Levin over Netanyahu’s head while the voting was underway—it was proven once again who the prime minister is, and again it is Yariv Levin. Netanyahu has his back against the wall. On the one hand, he is under pressure from within the Likud and tempted to go with Levin because of his trial; on the other hand, he is afraid that the aggressive path that Levin is leading will blow up in his face.” Polling in Maariv reveals that public opposition to the compromise deal floated this week outweighs support for it – 43 percent to 39 percent. Attitudes are split almost evenly on party lines: 62 percent of voters of right-wing parties opposed it while 61 percent of voters for the centre-left supported it.

Haaretz reports the US saying that “broad understandings have been reached regarding central components on the road to Saudi–Israeli normalisation, but more work is needed.” Ynet adds White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan saying yesterday that: “Many of the elements of a pathway to normalisation are now on the table. We don’t have a framework, we don’t have the terms ready to be signed. There is still work to do.”

Kan Radio also reports a surge in warnings of terror attacks ahead of the High Holidays. A special meeting of the security establishment revealed that 200 warnings of attacks are received every day at present, and that marked increase in incitement on Palestinian social media has been seen, focused particularly on activity in the West Bank and on visiting the Temple Mount. This news comes as fresh terror attacks were committed in the West Bank yesterday. In an action claimed by the military wing of Islamic Jihad, terrorists shot at the Jalame and Salem posts, seemingly from a passing vehicle. No-one was injured in the attack.

Maariv’s Anna Barsky covers Netanyahu’s phone call yesterday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, only their second conversation since the coalition’s election victory in November. The call was initiated by Israel, amid concern that ahead of Rosh Hashanah Ukraine would not let Israelis visit Uman (a site of Hasidic pilgrimage). Netanyahu raised this in the conversation and stressed the need to ensure the safety of the Jewish worshippers. The two also discussed Israeli aid for Ukraine, Israel taking in Ukrainian refugees, and providing Ukraine help in developing civilian defence systems. Barsky reports that the Israeli side has tried to schedule a visit between the two leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this month, but that Zelensky has demurred, preferring a substantive meeting to what he fears would be a photo op.

Maariv features its latest polling, showing that if elections were held today the results would be as follows: National Unity Party 30; Likud 26; Yesh Atid 17; Shas 10; United Torah Judaism 7; Religious Zionist Party 6; Hadash-Ta’al 5; Yisrael Beiteinu 5; United Arab List 6; Jewish Power 4; Meretz 4. This would result in 53 seats for the coalition, 57 for the opposition, and 10 for unaligned Hadash-Ta’al-United Arab List. The poll also suggests that voters would prefer the Likud were it led by either Economy Minister Nir Barkat or Defence Minister Yoav Gallant: the party’s Knesset share goes up to 27 when respondents are asked for whom they would vote if either of the men led the party instead of Netanyahu.