The Times this morning notes that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Francois Hollande for the first time today since he became French President in May. The Times also includes an interview with Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who is visiting the UK. The interview covers a variety of issues regarding Middle East security, but the article focuses on Israel’s readiness to prevent a potential transfer of chemical weapons from Syria to Hezbollah. The Times also includes an analysis which predicts that Israel could be forced to decide whether to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities next spring.

Barak is also interviewed extensively by the Telegraph, which focuses its coverage on Barak’s opinion that Iran pulled back from the brink of nuclear armament over the summer. However, Barak added that the “moment of truth” will likely arrive in eight to ten months, commenting that he expects sanctions and diplomacy to fail to resolve the stand-off over Iran’s nuclear programme. An editorial in the Telegraph elaborates on this theme, echoing Barak’s assertion that Israel is prepared to take military action if necessary.

Meanwhile, the Sun also reports that Israel has delayed a possible military strike against key Iranian nuclear targets until next spring and is prepared to give sanctions a chance to have a major impact.

The Financial Times reports that Sudan has rejected claims of foreign involvement in the activities of a weapons factory destroyed last week near the capital Khartoum. It has been widely suggested that the factory was manufacturing or storing weapons for Iran or Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The Independent and its sister publication Independent i report that Iranian warships yesterday docked in Sudan in a show of solidarity between the two countries.

Several titles, including the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Independent i, Telegraph and the Sun report on plans to exhume the body of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat next month. Arafat died in 2004 following a stroke, but there have been claims that he was poisoned, prompting French and Swiss authorities to launch separate investigations on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and Arafat’s widow. French and Swiss officials will reportedly take blood samples from Arafat’s body, buried in Ramallah, in late November.

Meanwhile, the online editions of the Times, Telegraph, Financial Times and Independent all report on the continuing violence of Syria’s 19-month-old internal conflict. A Syrian Air Force general was reportedly gunned down yesterday in Damascus, while opposition forces are said to be staging raids on military bases in the north of the country. The Financial Times report claims that clashes have broken out for the first time between opposition forces and Kurdish rebels in the city of Aleppo.

In Israel, domestic coverage continues to focus on the election campaign. Maariv and Makor Rishon in particular give prominent attention to a vote of the Labour Party convention, which approved changes in the format for choosing the party’s electoral list, proposed by Labour leader Shelly Yachimovich. The vote is seen as a demonstration of Yachimovich’s control within the party. She vowed at the convention “We can replace the government.”

Meanwhile, Haaretz focuses on the speech delivered yesterday evening by Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid at the Ariel University Centre, during which he outlined his party’s foreign policy platform. Lapid pledged that “Yesh Atid will not be part of a government that doesn’t return to the negotiating table.” While warning of the dangers of failing to negotiate with the Palestinians, Lapid also said that major settlement blocs should remain under Israeli sovereignty.  Israel Radio News this morning reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu is leaving for a two-day visit to France, where talks with French President Francoise Hollande and other senior officials will focus on the Iranian nuclear programme.