Source: Flickr / OECD

Barak Ravid for Haaretz:

Israel and the Palestinian Authority are negotiating over Israeli moves that would pave the way for a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

According to two Israeli sources and two Western diplomats, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, Netanyahu has expressed willingness to release initially some 25 Palestinian prisoners convicted of the murder of Israelis and another 100 prisoners by the end of 2012.

Releasing prisoners who have been in jail for three decades is smart — a nice confidence building measure, something sorely needed. There seem to be a number of stumbling blocks to be overcome, but it does seem that both sides are once more negotiating in good faith.

Is this a product of the Netanyahu-Mofaz coalition? Is this one of the reasons Mofaz went a little soft after his recent Tal law/Plesner committee ultimatum? Did he know something positive was coming?

There’s also a bit of debate about the veracity of though, something Ravid vehemently denies:

@ibishblog I based my report on numerous sources and double checked each of them. @ofirgendelman is a good spokesman – but out of the loop

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) July 9, 2012

Stay tuned, I guess.