News:

In a speech at AIPAC, PM Netanyahu demands Pres. Abbas recognize Israel as a “Jewish state.”(Reuters/New York Times/Ma’an/Ha’aretz)

Pres. Obama will ask Abbas to accept a framework agreement and extend peace talks.(Ha’aretz/Ynet)

The PA accuses Netanyahu of wasting time and “thwarting US peace efforts.” (Times of Israel/JTA)

A UN report says 300,000 Palestinians live in Area C of the occupied West Bank. (Ha’aretz)

Israel tightens control over key areas in the occupied West Bank. (AP)

Former Israeli and Palestinian negotiators plea for a two-state solution at Tel Aviv University. (Ynet)

Israeli naval forces raid a ship and seize rockets from Iran allegedly destined for Gaza.(AP/Reuters/Ha’aretz)

FM Lieberman accuses Arab MKs of representing the positions of Hamas. (Ha’aretz/JTA)

Hamas says Egypt is no longer impartial in resolving its political split with Fatah. (Ma’an)

Gaza public employees demand Hamas to pay them full salaries. (AP)

Israeli occupation forces impose a curfew on two villages in the West Bank. (Ma’an)

Palestinian farmers detain an Israeli settler after they caught him uprooting olive trees in the occupied West Bank. (Ma’an/PNN)

11 Arab Israeli MKs threaten to resign from the Knesset if a electoral “reform” bill is passed. (Jerusalem Post)

The Israeli army fires at militants along the Syrian border. (AP/New York Times)

Syria accuses Israel of targeting its forces. (AP)

The UN says all world powers are responsible for failing to stop the war crimes in Syria. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain recall their ambassadors from Qatar. (AP/Reuters/The National)

Lebanon’s political crisis sinks the nation into more debt. (AP)

Western powers pressure Iran to reveal all its nuclear research. (Reuters)

Commentary:

Barak Ravid says settlers should be concerned by Netanyahu’s AIPAC speech. (Ha’aretz)

Ron Ben-Yishai says Netanyahu’s AIPAC speech was weak, predictable and conventional. (Ynet)

Aaron Miller says Obama will not and cannot pressure Netanyahu on peace. (Foreign Policy)

Ha’aretz says the current Israeli government has no intention of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. (Ha’aretz)

The Daily Star says Hamas has failed the Palestinian people. (Daily Star)

Yossi Mekelberg says the Knesset debate about imposing Israeli sovereignty on Muslim holy places should be a “wakeup call” for all moderates to unite. (Al Arabiya)

Zvi Bar’el says Israel has “no city square” in which to protest. (Ha’aretz)

Jay Michaelson outline five reasons why their critics should talk to BDS supporters. (Jewish Daily Forward)

Tal Harris says unlike in Ukraine, Gaza’s people can only do so much to overturn the status quo. (Jerusalem Post)

Theodore Karasik says GCC countries see Qatar as returning to its “old tricks” and pursuing policies outside of the GCC framework. (Al Arabiya)

Gulf News says the death of an Emirati police officer and his Bahraini colleagues underlines the GCC’s commitment to defeat terrorism. (Gulf News)

Rami Khouri says art and culture should define the Middle East not killings and violence. (Daily Star)

The Jordan Times says Jordan and Morocco can teach each other about the path to democracy. (Jordan Times)

Ali Ibrahim says the crisis in Ukraine has become the global priority while the Middle East “retreats to the periphery.” (Asharq al Awsat)