US names new Mideast envoy hours before peace talks resume

Martin Indyk was US ambassador to Israel from 1995-1997 and from 2000-2001 US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday named a former ambassador to Israel as America's special envoy to help shepherd new Middle East peace talks .
Just hours before Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were to resume talks frozen for three years, Kerry said Martin Indyk would take on the difficult task of trying to guide both sides to reach a full-fledged peace deal.
"It's no secret that this is a difficult process, if it were easy it would have happened a long time ago. It's no secret therefore that many difficult choices lie ahead for the negotiators and for the leaders as we seek reasonable compromises on tough, complicated and symbolic issues," Kerry said.
"I think reasonable compromises have to be a keystone of all of this effort," he told reporters.
"To help the parties navigate the path to peace and to avoid as many pitfalls we'll be very fortunate to have on our team on a day-to-day basis, working with the parties wherever they are negotiating, a seasoned American diplomat, Ambassador Martin Indyk."
Indyk was to join the start of the talks later Monday, at an iftar dinner to be hosted by Kerry, before a full day of negotiations with Israeli chief negotiator Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erakat.
Kerry said Indyk had agreed to take on this task "at a critical time as the US special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations."
Indyk, 62, brought to the job "a deep appreciation for the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" as well as a "deep appreciation for the art of US diplomacy in the Middle East," he added.
Indyk served twice as US ambassador to Israel from 1995-1997 and from 2000-2001, during which time he participated in Clinton's failed Camp David summit meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The dream of a Middle East peace deal has for decades been a chimera chased by US presidents but has stalled since September 2010, shot down by deep divisions and distrust between the two sides.
After months of dogged diplomacy, Kerry earlier this month, on his sixth trip to the region, wrested from both sides an accord setting out "the basis for resuming direct final status negotiations," Psaki said in a statement Sunday.
"The meetings in Washington will mark the beginning of these talks. They will serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural workplan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months."
"Initial meetings are planned for the evening of Monday July 29 and Tuesday July 30, 2013," Psaki said in her statement.
"Both leaders have demonstrated a willingness to make difficult decisions that have been instrumental in getting to this point. We are grateful for their leadership," Kerry added in the statement.
The announcement came shortly after Israel announced plans to release 104 Palestinian prisoners - some of them convicted for attacks on Israelis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet met Sunday as he battled to convince some of his coalition partners to accept the prisoner release and to approve the resumption of talks.
The government approved the contentious release of long-serving Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners, reportedly including some with Israeli blood on their hands, to coincide with renewed peace talks, public radio said.
It said the 22-member cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to free prisoners by a vote of 13 in favour, seven against and two abstentions.
In an open letter published on his official Facebook site Saturday, Netanyahu said he had agreed "to free 104 Palestinians in stages, after the start of negotiations and according to progress" and that he would seek cabinet endorsement.
His office said in a statement on Sunday that the cabinet also approved peace talks with the Palestinians brokered by the United States but without elaborating where or when.
Erekat welcomed the Israeli vote. "We consider this an important step and hope to be able to seize the opportunity provided by the American administration's efforts," he said.
While the names of the prisoners have yet to be published or even revealed to ministers, they reportedly include militants convicted of killing Israeli women and children or of killing Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel.
"This moment is not easy is for me, not easy for the ministers, and especially not easy for the bereaved families," Netanyahu's office quoted him as telling ministers.
Meanwhile Deputy Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement
Mostafa al-Barghouthi ?said in a press release on Monday that “Israel succeeded to use the prisoners’ right to freedom as ?political blackmail,” adding that “the occupation’s decision to release 104 prisoners came 20 years ?late.”?
According to Barghouti, Israel will try to the release of prisoners to put pressure on the Palestinians to make concessions at the negotiation table.
The last round of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, shepherded by US President Barack Obama, broke down in 2010 over the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Israel and the Palestinians remain deeply divided over so called "final status issues" - including the fate of Jerusalem claimed by both as a capital, the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the exact borders of a future Palestinian state.
Additional source: AFP