• In Egypt for the second round of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, Secretary of State Clinton said she thought a deal could be reached to extend the West Bank settlement freeze in some fashion and keep the talks going. [NYT]
• But if Prime Minister Netanyahu makes too grand a gesture, he risks his fragile and right-wing coalition. [LAT]
• The chief U.N. nuclear inspector strongly condemned Iran’s treatment of on-the-ground investigators, setting up further conflict. [WSJ]
• Aluf Benn convincingly paints the talks at their current point as a poker game. A pretty high-stakes one, certainly. [Haaretz]
• Nearly all Arab states have failed to fulfill their donor requirements to the Palestinian Authority. [JPost]
• Roger Cohen basically echoes the point (not the headline) of the Time cover story: Peace would be great, but in the meantime, live your ife. [NYT]
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.