News:

Sec. Kerry and Pres. Abbas will discuss the new US security proposal in Ramallah on Thursday. (Xinhua)

Kerry calls negotiations with Iran "a hinge point in history." (Jerusalem Post)

Israelis and Palestinians seem to agree that peace talks are not progressing. (Ha'aretz)

Palestinians raise the prisoner release issue in international forums. (Jerusalem Post)

A major Dutch water company severs ties to an Israeli company over settlement activity. (Ha'aretz)

Israelis express concern PM Netanyahu's skipping Mandela's funeral fuels accusations Israel is an apartheid state. (Christian Science Monitor)

South African Jews and Blacks join together to slam Netanyahu's "disgraceful" decision. (The Forward

In a eulogy to the late South African leader, Marwan Barghouti vows to "honor Mandela's struggle."(Ha'aretz)

Netanyahu cancels an appearance at a US reform Jewish meeting as well. (Ha'aretz)

Romania angers Israel by refusing to allow its workers to help settlement construction. (AFP)

The EU says the PA should stop paying public employees in Gaza who don't work. (AP)

A group of Israelis is trying to draw up a "grand strategy" for the country. (Jerusalem Post)

A Palestinian man is stabbed by a group of "religious" Israelis in West Jerusalem. (Ma'an)

More details emerge about a "price tag" attack Monday by Jewish extremists on Palestinian citizens of Israel. (Xinhua)

The PA policeman is killed by unknown assailants near Bethlehem. (Ma'an)

Palestinians see a worrying rise in "honor killings." (Reuters)

More women in Gaza are learning karate. (The Media Line)

Palestinians complain their "most fertile meadow" is at risk due to corruption. (Ma'an)

10 years on, Palestinians put a patriotic spin on the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. (Times of Israel)

The U.S. Congress increases funding for Israel's missile defense programs. (YNet)

A human rights lawyer is now among four people recently kidnapped by Islamist extremists in Syria. (New York Times/Washington Post/Foreign Policy)

Egypt frees detained Syrian and Palestinian refugees. (Xinhua/Ma'an)

Israel passes a law allowing the detention of African migrants for up to a year without any process. (New York Times)

A former Israeli military chief reportedly says the country prefers Pres. Assad over Islamist rebels. (Jerusalem Post/Times of Israel)

Western Muslim radicals fighting in Syria are using social media to attract more recruits. (AFP)

Lebanon is increasingly worried Syrian refugees will be staying indefinitely. (New York Times/NOW)

Syrian refugees are being hit hard by winter snowstorms. (Reuters)

Wounded and disabled Syrian refugees are the hardest hit. (The Media Line)

The UN says the EU must do more to help Syrian refugees. (Reuters)

The US is suspending its non-lethal aid program in northern Syria. (Reuters)

Hillel reprimands its Swarthmore chapter over a recent vote in favor of free speech. (JTA)

13 Sunnis and 12 Shiites are killed in another spate of attacks in Iraq. (New York Times)

Egypt says it will hold its constitutional referendum in January. (Asharq Al Awsat)

The US may have underestimated the amount of sanctions relief Iran will receive under the interim nuclear agreement. (Ha'aretz)

Sec. Hagel tours a low-profile US base in Qatar, as the two countries sign a new defense accord. (AP/Reuters)

The US says it is "not expecting a Gulf union soon." (The National)

The GCC steps closer to an EU-style union, and creates a joint military command. (The National/AP)

Commentary:

Ron Kampeas says Israel and the US seem to be closer on a framework agreement for peace, but the Palestinians perhaps not. (JTA)

Ben Caspit calls Kerry the "evangelist of Israeli security and Palestinian peace." (Al Monitor)

Osama Al Sharif says Mandela's legacy to Palestinians is the belief in their own freedom. (Jordan Times)

Susan Collin Marks says Mandela's example can show the way forward in the Arab world. (The Daily Star)

Ha'aretz says Netanyahu's absence at Mandela's funeral is a symbol of Israel's growing isolation because of the occupation. (Ha'aretz)

The Forward agrees skipping Mandela's funeral is Israel enforcing its own international isolation. (The Forward)

Ali Ibrahim says Mandela showed that politicians don't have the luxury of revenge. (Asharq Al Awsat)

Aluf Benn recalls how apartheid era South Africa saved Israel's defense industry. (Ha'aretz)

Amir Oren and Avi Shilon separately recalls and contextualizes Israel's alliance with apartheid-era South Africa. (Ha'aretz)

Amira Hass says senseless acts of violence like the recent killing of a Palestinian teenager are the likely trigger for a third intifada. (Ha'aretz)

Jonathan Cook says as Bedouin villages are destroyed, so too are hopes for Palestinian peace deal. (The National)

Ben Sales looks at the unlikely coalition opposing forced mass Bedouin relocation in Israel. (JTA)

Dan Diker says a plausible alternative to a two-state solution is a three-way confederation with Jordan. (Jerusalem Post)

The Gulf News says Hamas shouldn't look to Iran for support. (Gulf News)

Bradley Burston says it's becoming difficult for Jewish Americans to love and Israel with warped values. (Ha'aretz)

Melanie Ward says nothing that happens in occupied Hebron makes any rational sense. (Ha'aretz)

Rami Khouri praises the American Studies Association support for boycotting Israel, but The Forward calls it hypocritical. (The Daily Star/The Forward)

Graham Liddell interviews Palestinian filmmaker Mais Darwazah. (Ma'an)

Nasser Chararah notes that Hezbollah is escalating its rhetoric against Saudi Arabia. (Al Monitor)

Anthony Cordesman says more Gulf cooperation is needed to protect vulnerable assets. (The National)