“In the enlightened 21st century, Muslims and Jews should once more share this holy site,” writes Khaled Diab.

“The reports and pictures of the violence in the last three days on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem are not misleading,” writes Avi Issacharoff. “Though it’s by now a dreary cliché, this powderkeg is again threatening to worsen the security situation and damage diplomatic ties between Israel and its neighbors.”

There is a significant difference in the open fire regulations followed by Israel Police and by the Israeli army. The police open fire regulations only permit using crowd dispersal measures, such as firing rubber bullets and throwing tear gas grenades. That may change soon.

“The world does not marvel at the illusion of an irreversible hold on the territories, and is determined to effect a separation,” writes Amir Oren.

Israel returned a Palestinian security detainee to prison on Wednesday after deeming him sufficiently recovered in hospital from a 65-day hunger strike that he began to protest being held without trial.

Located inside Israel proper, a tent encampment belonging to residents of a yet-to-be-built Jewish town — meant to replace an existing Bedouin village — is being managed by a West Bank settler council.

Jaffa, now a neighbourhood of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is being transformed, continuing the internal displacement that started 65 years ago.

“What use are things such as passports, flags, embassies, stamps, dialling codes and internet domains when the state itself exists only on paper?” asks Sharif Nashashibi.

Israeli and American officials say initial, unofficial talks will turn into higher-level discussions in coming weeks, and culminate in November when Netanyahu and Obama meet in Washington.

“If the prime minister has a position on the most central issue to Israel’s future — its relationship with the Palestinians — he hides it,” write the editors of Ha’aretz.

Former interior minister Gideon Sa’ar would fare best in a head-to-head race against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a poll that was published ahead of Rosh Hashana.

From his roots in a Gaza refugee camp, Mohammed Dahlan scrambled to the top of Palestinian politics by his early 40s, backed by a reputation as a charismatic enforcer, someone who commanded loyalty and got things done.