Navigate to News section

Daybreak: Bibi May Play Ball on Freeze

Plus big win for Turkey’s Erdogan

by
Marc Tracy
September 13, 2010
Netanyahu at his Cabinet meeting yesterday.(Tara Todras-Whitehill - Pool/Getty Images)
Netanyahu at his Cabinet meeting yesterday.(Tara Todras-Whitehill - Pool/Getty Images)

• Prime Minister Netanyahu hinted that he could continue to limit West Bank construction even after the moratorioum expires later this month, opening the door to a compromise with President Abbas that could keep the direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks going. [NYT]

• President Obama suggested that one means toward easing the construction question might be to begin the talks by establishing new borders. [WP]

• But the borders are complicated: The settlement of Ariel, 12 miles inside the West Bank, had long considered itself a “consensus” pick to remain in Israel proper; now it is not so sure. [NYT]

• If Netanyahu’s past actions make us take his current ones with a grain of salt, says columnist Jackson Diehl, we should be even more worried about Abbas’s present rhetoric. [WP]

• Turkey voted to pass constitutional referenda eliminating several secular safeguards. They were sponsored by Prime Minister Erdogan, who of late has catered to a religious constituency by vigorous pro-Palestinian rhetoric and action. [Haaretz]

• Donor aid, Israeli policy, and internal financial overhaul led to nine percent economic growth in the West Bank and 16 percent in Gaza during the first half of 2010. [WSJ]

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