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Daybreak: Proximity Talks Are in Proximity

Plus Highway 443 revisited, and more in the news

by
Marc Tracy
April 26, 2010
U.S. envoy George Mitchell and Palestinian President Abbas.(Thaer Ganaim/PPO via Getty Images)
U.S. envoy George Mitchell and Palestinian President Abbas.(Thaer Ganaim/PPO via Getty Images)

• People in the know say proximity talks will begin next month. President Obama admitted to Palestinian President Abbas that while he didn’t secure a total settlement freeze, Israel will commit no “significant” actions during negotiations. (Also, Abbas was invited to D.C.) [Haaretz]

• As it happens, however, President Abbas disclosed that he had actually asked the Americans to “impose” a peace solution. [WP]

• And meanwhile, rumors abound that—though he denies it—Prime Minister Netanyahu has ordered a de facto freeze in East Jerusalem. [Haaretz]

• An ultra-right-wing march through the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wade Hilwe set the region ever more on edge yesterday. [NYT]

• “If the Israelis and Palestinians can’t agree over how to share nine miles of pavement,” asks an article about the West Bank’s Highway 443, “how will they ever resolve the far more complex issues that divide them?” [WP]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.