The Telegraph reports that following three years of legal wrangling, Israel’s High Court has ruled that Israel’s military cannot construct a section of the West Bank security barrier as planned through the historic agricultural fields of Battir, considered a world heritage site. Both Palestinian and environmental groups had petitioned the High Court over the plans. The military has been ordered to develop a new plan which avoids the area in question.

The online edition of the Telegraph suggests that Israel will ask the US Congress, now in Republican hands, to suspend American aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in response to the PA application to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). The PA request will likely lead to war crimes prosecutions against Israelis, creating further barriers to a future negotiated settlement. However, the article comments that although Israel is taking punitive measures, it does not want to see the dissolution of the PA.

The Guardian online reports that the publisher Harper Collins has removed from circulation a Middle East atlas which omitted Israel from the map. The company explained that it was responding to local preferences in Gulf states by publishing the atlas, but following widespread criticism has now decided to remove the publication entirely.

The Independent and Independent i both include a feature on a campaign being led by a group of ultra-Orthodox women to secure their representation in the Knesset. Currently Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties do not include any female parliamentary representatives as some rabbinical authorities believe such a position would contravene the traditional female role in the community. The group has threatened a “no voice, no vote” boycott, refusing to vote for ultra-Orthodox parties if their demands are not met.

Both the Guardian and the online edition of the Telegraph report that Lebanon has imposed tighter restrictions on the entry of Syrians into the country, in order to stem the flow of Syrian refugees which has seen Lebanon struggling to cope with the strain.

The Times reports that Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani indicated during a recent speech that he may call a national referendum on a future nuclear deal with the international community. The Financial Times says that such a move would be viewed as a challenge to the Iranian regime’s more hard-line rulers. The Telegraph says that one of Iran’s most senior military commanders, who oversees the Basiji paramilitary force has called Rouhani a “fake revolutionary.”

In the Israeli media, the top story in Maariv and Israel Hayom is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech yesterday at the Likud Party campaign launch. The centrepiece of his address was a promise to reform the system of governance to make sure that the leader of the largest party automatically forms a government, which can only be toppled in extreme circumstances. Netanyahu said that the plethora of small parties had made Israel hard to govern and that his reforms would create a more stable system revolving around two large parties. Netanyahu’s speech is also covered prominently in Maariv and Israel Radio news. However, both Ben Caspit in Maariv and Shimon Shiffer in Yediot Ahronot suggest that Netanyahu’s proposed reforms are unlikely to be enacted even if he is re-elected to power.

Israel Radio news reports that the ICC announced that alleged crimes committed during Operation Protective Edge last summer are within its purview, following the submission of relevant documentation by the PA. Meanwhile, Israel Radio news also says that the NGO Shurat Hadin has submitted a war crimes complaint to the ICC against three Palestinian officials regarding the firing of rockets from Gaza during the summer conflict.

Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom, Haaretz and Maariv all devote significant column inches to preparations being made in Israel for the arrival of a large storm later today, which is set to continue for the rest of the week and threatens to cause damage and disruption.