NEWS: In her new memoir, former Sec. Rice says peace was very close in 2007. Pres. Peres and EU foreign policy chief Ashton defend Pres. Abbas against criticisms by FM Lieberman. A World Bank agency is going to insure some Palestinian investments. Occupation forces close two offices in occupied East Jerusalem they claim were being used by Hamas. Palestinian officials say they're unaware of any new US proposal to restart negotiations. Former US peace envoy Mitchell says deadlocked negotiations could lead to violence. The ADL and AJC press Republicans not to attack Pres. Obama over Israel. Quartet officials say they're making another push to restart talks. The Palestinian stock exchange is performing much better than its peers under uncertain conditions. COMMENTARY: The LA Times says both the California and Israeli-Palestinian experiences show that textbook issues should be debated between scholars and not politicians. Lally Weymouth interviews Jordan's King Abdullah. Ha'aretz says PM Netanyahu must treat Abbas as a genuine partner. Jonathan Freedland says Netanyahu has no vision for peace. Kapil Komireddi says Indian-Israeli friendship should not be marred by anti-Muslim sentiments. Salman Shaikh says Hamas needs to find friends outside Damascus. Dan Rothem looks at the difficulty of drawing an Israeli-Palestinian border. Shlomo Brom says the Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange will have limited ramifications.