The Daily Mail, Express, Reuters, and The Telegraph report that Jordan said on Sunday it would not extend the 25-year lease deal that allows Israel to use two tracts of territory along its border, just as Israel said it was still planning to negotiate an extension. Jordan’s King Abdullah II has been under increasing public pressure to end the arrangement with Israel. He told senior Jordanian politicians the kingdom wanted to exercise its “full sovereignty” over the two areas, Petra state news agency said. “These are Jordanian lands and they will remain,” the monarch said. In an “era of regional turmoil” his kingdom – sandwiched between Syria to the north, Iraq to the east and Israel to its west – wanted to protect its “national interests,” Abdullah II said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking after Abdullah II’s comments on Sunday, acknowledged that Jordan wanted to exercise its option to end the arrangement. But he said Israel “will enter negotiations with it on the possibility of extending the current arrangement”. The Express reports that according to Jordanian politician Khalil Atiyeh, a week ago, 85 Jordanian MPs signed a petition calling on the King not to renew the lease agreement. A political analyst in the Jordanian capital of Amman, Oraib al-Rantawi, said: “The King saw the popular rejection against keeping this agreement with Israel, especially in the last few months where economic decline in the country has led to mass protests – and he wisely decided against it.” Many observers believe the King will receive praise from the Jordanian public for his refusal to continue the lease. Political activist Hussar Abdallat said the King’s decision would “endear him to the public”. Former UN environmental official and critic of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty, Sufyan al-Tell, called the announcement “timely and reflects the will of the people of Jordan”.

 The Independent’s “voices” section has an article by Dr Sophia Brown, an academic working in East Jerusalem. She writes about the challenges currently being faced by Palestinian universities and how the universal right to education is being severely compromised in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). “As an occupying power, the state of Israel, is obligated to ensure that civilians under occupation are not denied their basic human rights. The fourth Geneva Convention makes it clear that occupying powers are subject to substantial obligations, including the general welfare of the population – which includes access to education – and that forcible deportation is forbidden. While it is widely accepted by the international community and its governments that Israel continues to violate the fourth Geneva Convention, Israel itself – although a party to the convention – denies that it applies to the OPT, maintaining its dominance of every aspect of Palestinian society.”

Reuters reports that Israel has arrested two officials from the Palestinian Authority (PA) over suspicions they helped abduct a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, their lawyers said on Sunday. The two men taken into custody by Israel were Adnan Gheith, who holds the largely ceremonial post of Palestinian-appointed governor of Jerusalem, and Jihad Al-Faqeeh, the head of Palestinian intelligence in the city. They are suspected of having assisted in abducting a resident of Jerusalem two weeks ago, who has since been held by the PA in the West Bank, their lawyers said. Both men deny the charges.

Reuters reports that Israel said on Sunday it would put on hold for “a number of weeks” its demolition of a Bedouin village in the West Bank, amid international calls to drop the plan, saying it would try to negotiate an evacuation with the residents.

The Daily Mail reports that a ministerial committee in Israel’s parliament voted on Sunday to advance a bill that would cut subsidies to cultural organisations accused of not showing “loyalty” to the state. The proposed legislation, denounced by artists and freedom of speech activists, was proposed by Culture Minister Miri Regev. The text of the bill must be voted on in three parliamentary readings before becoming law. It would give the finance and culture ministries the power to slash subsidies to any institution presenting work that denies Israel’s existence as a democratic and Jewish state or that marks the state’s independence day as a national day of mourning. For Palestinians, the anniversary marks the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when more than 700,000 fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel’s creation. The draft law would also see funding cut over work that attacks the state flag, or incites racism or terrorism. “I am very happy that this law has been passed by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation,” Regev wrote on Facebook. “It will then be presented to the Knesset to be adopted, God willing, next month … yes to freedom of culture, no to provocations!”

The BBC reports that Saudi statements about Jamal Khashoggi had changed because of “false information reported internally at the time”. Saudi Arabia said that Khashoggi was murdered, blaming a “rogue operation” for a killing that sparked an international outcry. Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News the act had been a “tremendous mistake” and denied the powerful crown prince had ordered the killing. The journalist was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Saudis, under intense pressure to explain the journalist’s whereabouts, have offered conflicting accounts. They initially said he had left the building unharmed on 2 October but on Friday admitted for the first time he was dead, saying that he had been killed in a fight. This claim was met with widespread scepticism.

The Telegraph, BBC and Express, reports that the UK, France and Germany denounced writer Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, demanding urgent clarification from Saudi Arabia over his death. The BBC reports that a joint statement by the UK, France and Germany said that the explanation that Khashoggi died after a “fist fight” in the consulate in Istanbul needed “to be backed by facts to be considered credible”. US President Donald Trump earlier said he was “not satisfied” with the account, and Turkey’sPpresident on Sunday vowed to reveal the truth about the death, and would make a statement on the matter in parliament on Tuesday. “We are looking for justice here and this will be revealed in all its naked truth,” he told a rally in Istanbul. The Telegraph reports that a senior official in Riyadh said Khashoggi’s body had been smuggled from the consulate wrapped in a rug even as Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister appeared on American TV to claim authorities still did not know exactly how the 59-year-old died or where his body was. The Express reports that Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab bluntly dismissed the Gulf kingdom’s claim that Khashoggi died in Istanbul after a fight broke out. But he rejected growing calls for Britain to sever its arms sales and other links with the repressive state. Turkish authorities say there is evidence that Khashoggi was interrogated, tortured, killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate by a hit squad flown in from Riyadh. The Washington Post columnist and prominent critic of the Saudi Government has not been seen since visiting the building on 2 October to get documents to enable his forthcoming marriage. Asked if he believed the Saudi Government’s account of how the journalist died, Raab told BBC One’s Andrew Marr: “No. I don’t think it’s credible. I think it’s a terrible case.” The priority for Britain was to support the Turkish investigation to establish the facts “because there’s a serious question mark over the account that’s been given. “And the British government wants to see people held to account for that death. It’s awful.” But Raab also stressed: “We’re not throwing our hands in the air and terminating a relationship with Saudi Arabia, not just because of the huge number of British jobs that depends on it, but also because if you exert influence over your partners you need to be able to talk to them.”

In the Israeli media, Yediot Ahronot and Maariv report that King Abdullah II of Jordan is ending the 25-year lease agreement of two areas cultivated by Israel and returning them to Jordanian sovereignty. Yediot Ahronot declares the peace agreement is in “crisis”. The paper claims the announcement came as a “complete surprise” by officials in Jerusalem. “On the face of it, there’s not a lot that Israel can do: Jordan is entitled to do this. Israel will have to hand over the two areas to Jordan unless it manages to persuade the Jordanians otherwise.” However, yesterday, Jerusalem officials said it was their assessment that Jordan would not want to. Furthermore, it is believed that the “king’s decision was influenced by the extensive criticism on the Jordanian street about Jordan’s continued relationship with Israel and a sense among many Jordanians that Israel rides roughshod over it. Another reason is that the Jordanians are frustrated by the fact that for 3.5 years Israel has been postponing the implementation of the water agreement between the two countries. Informed sources say that the secretary general of Jordan’s Water Authority, Saad Abu Hammour, told his Israeli counterparts as early as two years ago that the king would end the lease, but Israeli officials never did anything.” Maariv quotes Central Arava Regional Council Chairman Eyal Blum, “This would mean that 30 farms on 1,400 dunams (346 acres) of land will collapse. I call upon the prime minister to resolve this crisis immediately.”

Smadar Peri in Yediot Ahronot writes: “Ultimately, King Abdullah’s decision, to a fair degree, was also due to chemistry. His personal relationship with Netanyahu was never good. The King accused Netanyahu of ignoring Jordan; he praised the “excellent” relations with Israel between army and security officials in Jordan, and he continued to complain about Netanyahu. We can only assume that the late Yitzhak Rabin, for example, would have behaved differently from Netanyahu. The King, whether Hussein or Abdullah, would meet privately with him, explain what Jordan needed and how Jordan was affected, and both would have figured out what to do together. But there is no such chemistry with Netanyahu. As Netanyahu sees it, Jordan is in Israel’s pocket.” She also notes the longstanding Jordanian desire to be involved in East Jerusalem, responsible for the holy places, for appointing religious clerics. Today the Jordanians feel that they are being taken for granted.  However she concludes, “The truth is, it’s not a done deal. But he will have to give King Abdullah more. Perhaps a lot more….The Israeli side can definitely do more to strengthen the relationship and work harder on it, and give the king more power against his opponents.”

Eyal Zisser in Israel Hayom writes: “The Jordanian announcement was not a total surprise, and neither will it have any far-reaching strategic impact. After all, these are areas that Jordan owns and it can be assumed that one day they would have reverted to Jordanian sovereignty, since there is no country in the Middle East that would agree to concede areas under its sovereignty over time. That was what Saudi Arabia did in the matter of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir that it had leased to Egypt.” He argues the problem is not in the substance, but in the manner and the timing that Jordan chose to declare its renunciation of the spirit of the peace agreement. He further notes that “there is no other Arab state that is as dependent on Israel as Jordan is, particularly in the spheres of energy and water and even security. Furthermore, there is no Arab state that has such strategic cooperation with Israel as Jordan, even if it is unseen. For Israel, this cooperation is far more important than the dunams that Jordan is now demanding back, or the quantity of water that Rabin generously promised the Jordanians at the time….We must continue the strategic cooperation with Jordan but keep our eyes open.”

In Haaretz, Amos Harel notes that “Russia has been taking a more forceful stance toward Israel concerning Israel Air Force activity in the north. The Russians are demanding further clarifications from the Israel Defence Forces via the “hotline” that is meant to prevent any aerial clashes between the two parties, and there have been several instances in which Russian air defence radars in Syria were activated in connection with Israel’s air force activity in the north.” He further notes “the process of training Syrian soldiers to operate the missile batteries is expected take some time and the batteries themselves are not yet fully operative….the presence of Russian troops with the missile batteries will also make it harder for Israel to strike those batteries if missiles are fired from them at its air force jets.”

All the papers cover the 23^rd anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Yediot Ahronot prominently focus on Rabin’s granddaughter, Noa Rotman and her speech during the official State ceremony at the graveside. She is quoted saying, “If you do not stop the incitement, blood will be shed here”. She attacked the current leadership, saying that “civil rights and personal security are not, and must not be, a prize for patriotism or closeness to the plate”. She also claimed that a woman in the Prime Minister’s Office published a picture of Rabin and Yasser Arafat under the title of “Traitor”. Later it transpired that she was referring to Caroline Glick, a journalist from the Jerusalem Post and not an aide to the Prime Minister. In response, the Prime Minister’s office said that Rotman’s accusation was “baseless” that “ill befits the occasion”.

The papers also all report the decision to temporarily stop the evacuation of Khan al Ahmar. Yediot Ahronot analyse that this is “only postponing the inevitable”. Israel Hayom refers to the decision as “capitulation”. In the commentary, Israel Hayom notes, “the international pressure was unbearable. The Arabs of Israel, who are already angered by the nationality law, are furious. From the very beginning, the opposition leaders argued that the damage caused by evacuation was greater than the benefit of leaving it on the ground. So they rushed to congratulate Netanyahu…. The decision not to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar is what causes international damage – and not vice versa….Netanyahu’s surrender is no less than a violation of sovereignty. It is difficult to estimate the damage now, but it is not impossible that it will turn out to be unbearable. The lesson that Netanyahu taught the world is that he has no word. That even the appearance of force and power that has been imposed upon him can be peeled and folded, even without too much difficulty…..Opposition hypocrisy also cries out to the sky. So many sharp and determined words have been spoken in the past year about the need to preserve and enforce the law. Those who raise the rule of law in their throats and the Supreme Court are engraved on their hearts, are now praising a blatant violation of the law and trampling on all the legal and legal elements who ordered and welcomed the move. It turns out that law and order are just a matter of politics. After all, none of them wanted to stand with the residents of Judea and Samaria, whose homes were destroyed under the High Court’s bulldozers, to an arrangement or to delay the evacuation. It is worth remembering this the next time they complain against the government about the damage to democracy.”