• The Syrian uprising hits home, with clashes in a wealthy neighborhood of Damascus. [NYT]
• Defying President Obama, President Abbas plans to send Prime Minister Netanyahu a peace process ultimatum. [Haaretz]
• European Union foreign-policy head Catherine Ashton sorta/kinda/too much compared the Toulouse shooting to deaths of children in Gaza. Oy. [Times of Israel]
• Last election, Tzipi Livni’s Kadima won the plurality of votes. In a party primary later this month, Livni may lose the leadership. [LAT]
• Iran has begun allowing currency exchanges at nonofficial rates, in a sign that the sanctions-spurred devaulation of the rial is undeniable even to the regime. [NYT]
• An independent from Chicago who was an Obama bundler in 2008 has switched to Mitt Romney over the “1967 with land swaps” formulation. [WP]
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.