• U.S. Announces Resumption of Israeli-Palestinian Direct Final Status Negotiations
  State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki announced Sunday: "Secretary Kerry spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and personally extended an invitation to send senior negotiating teams to Washington to formally resume direct final status negotiations. Initial meetings are planned for the evening of Monday, July 29, and Tuesday, July 30, 2013."
      "The meetings in Washington...will serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural workplan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months."  (State Department)
      See also Israel, Palestinians Dispute Format of Washington Peace Talks - Dan Williams and Ali Sawafta
  Israeli and Palestinian officials put forward clashing formats for peace talks due to resume in Washington on Monday. Silvan Shalom, a member of the Israeli cabinet, told Israel's Army Radio, "All of the issues that are at the core of a permanent accord will be negotiated simultaneously." Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top PLO official, told Voice of Palestine radio the talks "will begin, in principle, on the issues of borders and security."
      "Had the matter of borders and territory been given over, what incentive would they (Palestinians) have had to make concessions on the matter of refugees or Jerusalem?" Shalom asked. (Reuters)
• Israel Approves Prisoner Deal in Push to Revive Palestinian Talks - Edmund Sanders
  The Israeli government agreed Sunday to release 104 Palestinian prisoners over the next nine months as a gesture to lure Palestinian leaders back to the negotiating table. Prisoners are likely to be released in four stages, beginning next month and ending early next year. (Los Angeles Times)
      See also Gradual Release of Prisoners to Keep Palestinians at Negotiations - Herb Keinon
  The idea behind the gradual release of prisoners, according to Israeli officials, is to ensure that the Palestinians uphold their commitments during the initial nine months of negotiations not to take unilateral actions against Israel in the UN, and not to immediately walk away from the negotiating table. (Jerusalem Post)
• Egypt Warns Pro-Morsi Protesters after 72 Killed in Weekend Clashes
  Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim on Sunday pledged to deal decisively with any attempts to destabilize the country after 72 died in weekend clashes in the deadliest outbreak of violence since the July 3 military coup. The Cairo violence took place when pro-Morsi protesters moved onto a main boulevard, only to be confronted by police and unidentified armed men in civilian clothes.
      On Friday, millions again took to the streets in a show of support for Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the military chief who ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi. (AP-Washington Post)
      See also Bloodshed Rises in Streets of Egypt - Jeffrey Fleishman (Los Angeles Times)
• Syrian Government Blamed for Ballistic Missile Attack in Aleppo - Ben Hubbard and Hwaida Saad
  A missile attack by government forces on the Bab al-Neirab neighborhood in Aleppo, home to the headquarters of a number of rebel brigades, killed at least 29 people, including 19 children, Syrian monitors said Saturday. Assad's forces have stepped up the use of such missiles, which often reduce city blocks to rubble, a strategy that analysts say suggests that the military lacks sufficient infantry to accomplish its goals. (New York Times)
      See also Syrian Soldiers' Mass Execution Reported - Hania Mourtada and Rick Gladstone
  Islamist extremists in Syria killed 150 soldiers in an Aleppo suburb this week, including 51 who were executed after they had surrendered, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which sympathizes with the opposition. A video dated Wednesday showed what appeared to be an execution ground, with dozens of lifeless bodies clumped against a wall pockmarked with bullet holes. Rami Abdulrahman, the Syrian Observatory founder, said the killers were members of the Nusra Front and Ansar al-Khalafa al-Islamiya Brigade. (New York Times)

• Israeli Minister: Prisoner Release Prevents Serious Diplomatic Crisis with the U.S. - Barak Ravid
  Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar says he supported the prisoner release at the cabinet meeting Sunday to prevent a serious diplomatic crisis with the U.S. "If there is no majority for the proposal [in the cabinet], it doesn't only mean that we refuse to release the prisoners. It means that we refuse to renew negotiations and that Israel will be blamed....Not only does it let the Palestinians get to work at the UN immediately, it could also absolve our relatively few friends in the international community who are still standing alongside us and casting a veto at the UN or blocking boycotts," Sa'ar said.
      "That doesn't mean I think there's a great chance to achieve a final-status agreement with the Palestinians...but we want to preserve Israeli's international status and prevent it from suffering a diplomatic and economic blow."  (Ha'aretz)
      See also below Observations: Prime Minister Netanyahu Explains Release of Palestinian Prisoners (Prime Minister's Office)
• The Decision to Release Palestinian Prisoners - Ron Ben-Yishai
  Prime Minister Netanyahu's decision to release Palestinian prisoners stems from strategic and security-related considerations. There is no doubt that the increase in the number of prisoners slated for release constitutes a capitulation to American pressure.
      The most important reason behind the decision has to do with the Iranian nuclear program. Over the next few months, apparently by next spring, Iran will become a country on the brink of weapons capability. During this time Israel will be able to stop the Iranian nuclear program, should it receive support and legitimacy from the West, and mainly from the U.S. The release of Palestinian prisoners is a reasonable price to pay for something that is so crucial for the State of Israel, according to Netanyahu's security doctrine. (Ynet News)
• Palestinian Prisoner Release - Here We Go Again - Herb Keinon
  At the end of the day, with all the pain and agony that it entails, Israel will release Palestinian terrorists who murdered scores of innocent people. And these murderers will be hailed as heroes in Hebron and Ramallah and Jenin. Parades will be held in their honor, flowers thrown at the bus carrying them home, poems written about their "glorious" exploits. It matters how they are received. It sets tone and atmosphere. It says something about our peacemaking partners.
      The Palestinians, backed by the world, consistently demand that Israel build up their confidence. But how about Israeli confidence? What is being done to rebuild an Israeli confidence trampled by the Second Intifada and stomped upon by the thousands of rockets that fell on Israel after it withdrew from Gaza in 2005? If the Palestinians are indeed serious about the upcoming round of talks, they need to not celebrate the release of terrorists who threw petrol bombs into buses and incinerated innocent men, women and children. (Jerusalem Post)

• Would Americans Release Terrorist Killers? - Jonathan S. Tobin
  Americans should pause and wonder whether they would ever give a moment's consideration to doing what their government is twisting Israel's arm to do. Would we ever think of releasing any of those convicted and currently serving long jail sentences for involvement in the 9/11 attacks or any other terrorist assault on the United States and its citizens? Not a chance.
      The American position is, as the Obama administration likes to put it, that anyone who attacks U.S. citizens will be chased down to the ends of the earth and either be snuffed by a drone attack that has the personal approval of the commander in chief or be locked away for good if they are captured. How can Americans justify demanding that Israel do something they would never do themselves. (Commentary)
• Kerry's Peace Process - Walter Russell Mead
  Signing a deal with the PA will not stop rockets coming from Gaza, will not stop Palestinian exiles from continuing a campaign of delegitimization against Israel, will not stop foreign powers like Iran supporting rejectionist factions of the Palestinians with weapons, money and diplomatic cover, and will not end Hizbullah's terror campaign against Israelis and Jews worldwide. Given all that, it is hard for many Israelis to see enough benefit to justify serious territorial concessions for a Potemkin peace. (American Interest)

Prime Minister Netanyahu Explains Release of Palestinian Prisoners (Prime Minister's Office)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released an open letter to the citizens of Israel on July 27, prior to resuming the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.

• "From time to time, prime ministers are called on to make decisions that go against public opinion - when the matter is important for the country."
• "At the present time, it...is very important for the State of Israel to enter into a diplomatic process...both in order to exhaust the chance of ending the conflict with the Palestinians and in order to establish Israel's position in the complex international reality around us."
• "I did agree to release 104 Palestinians in stages after the start of the negotiations and in accordance with the circumstances of their progress. This is an incomparably difficult decision....It collides with the incomparably important value of justice."
• "People in positions of leadership need to choose between complex choices and sometimes the necessary decision is especially difficult when most of the public opposes it."