Daybreak: Talking The Talks
Plus China anti-sanctions, U.K. acts on war crimes, and more in the news
March 04, 2010
Livni, able to travel freely.(Gerard Cerles/AFP/Getty Images)
• It looks like indirect peace talks, with U.S. envoy George Mitchell shuttling rapidly between the Israelis and Palestinians in hopes of getting them in the same room, are on, since the Arab League gave its blessing. [LAT]
• The United States drew up new proposed sanctions that would target Iran’s banking, shipping, and insurance. [NYT]
• Meanwhile, China said it believes diplomatic solutions to the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program “have not been exhausted,” and so it is not open to sanctions now. [Haaretz]
• Britain will likely amend its war-crimes law today to allow former Israeli officials—like Tzipi Livni, who was the target of a warrant last December—to travel there securely. [JPost]
• There has been some talk of a summit between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (the leader of the Palestinian Authority) and Israeli President Shimon Peres (not the leader of Israel). Not only would it not include, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who is the leader of Israel), but planning for it was reportedly done without his knowledge. [Haaretz]
• Arnold Beichman, an influential political columnist who was something of a proto-neoconservative (he turned right decades before the others did), died at 96. [NYT]
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.
