• Amid Egypt President-Army Struggle, It's Unclear Who's in Charge - Jeffrey Fleishman and Reem Abdellatif
  The power struggle between Egypt's president and military leaders has left many Egyptians confused over who is running the country. The struggle is driven by Islamist President Mohamed Morsi's attempt to weaken the secular army's grip on a country it has controlled for six decades. The generals view political Islam as a threat to Egypt's international stature as well as to their personal and business interests. (Los Angeles Times)
      See also Egypt's Islamist-Dominated Parliament Convenes in Defiance of Court Ruling Disbanding It
  Egypt's Islamist-dominated parliament convened Tuesday for a five-minute session in defiance of a ruling by the country's highest court dissolving the legislature. (AP-Washington Post)
• U.S. Orders Iran to Pay for 1983 Lebanon Attack
  A U.S. federal judge has ordered Iran to pay more than $813 million in damages and interest to the families of 241 U.S. soldiers killed in the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Lebanon. Judge Royce Lambeth wrote in a ruling on July 3 that Tehran had to be "punished to the fullest extent legally possible" for the bombing in Beirut on October 23, 1983. Lambeth wrote that "no award, however many billions it contained, could accurately reflect the countless lives that have been changed by Iran's dastardly acts."  (Al Jazeera)
• Iran Blames French, German Intelligence for Killing Nuclear Scientists
  Iran's spy chief on Friday accused French and German intelligence services of cooperating with the CIA to kill Iranian nuclear scientists. "The recently dismantled networks of assassination and bombing were in coordination with main services," Heidar Moslehi said. "France, Germany, Israel's Mossad, CIA, MI6 and all regional services served each other." Until now Iran had previously blamed only the U.S., Britain and Israel. (AP-Washington Post)

• Palestinians Shoot into Israel from Gaza, IDF Responds - Neri Brenner and Yoav Zitun
  Shots fired from Gaza Monday evening struck two civilian vehicles and a restaurant wall at a commercial plaza located near the Yad Mordechai junction in southern Israel. The IDF said the shots were fired from a 0.5-caliber heavy machinegun. In response, Israel Air Force aircraft struck terror hubs in southern Gaza.
      Yochabad, the owner of a vehicle that was hit while it was parked in the plaza, said the bullets penetrated the roof and hit the dashboard, "meaning that had I been in the vehicle, I would have probably been killed."  (Ynet News)
• Palestinians Arrested for Setting Jerusalem Fire - Noam Dvir
  Two Palestinians, 17 and 18, from the village of Kfar Katna in the West Bank were arrested on suspicion of setting a large wildfire near Kibbutz Ma'ale Hahamisha two weeks ago. Nine firefighting crews and two aircraft were needed to gain control of the blaze. Police Commander Gilad Bahat said, "As far as we know, the motive was nationalist and intended to cause damage."  (Ynet News)

• The Muslim Brotherhood's Long Game - Eric Trager
  In the 18 months since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood has risen swiftly from the cave to the castle after 84 years of using its nationwide social services networks to build an Islamic state in Egypt from the ground up. The Brotherhood now hopes to create a period of calm in the short run so that it can act more assertively in the future.
      Part of the Brotherhood's strategy for temporary calm involves its coordination with the military. Brotherhood leaders met frequently with SCAF generals. The Brotherhood's arrangement with SCAF is consistent with the organization's long-held strategy of avoiding confrontation with more powerful authorities. But the current calm will not last. The Brotherhood will use this period to build its legitimacy as Egypt's next ruling party, and resume its push for more authority once the temperature cools down. (Foreign Affairs)
• Morsy's Victory and Egypt's Second Republic - Jacques Neriah
  The Muslim Brotherhood are shrewd pragmatists and fully aware that Egypt has enough domestic problems of its own. Their main effort will be directed at rehabilitating the country's devastated economy. Hamas in Gaza – an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood – has high hopes, but it will soon be disappointed. However, another full-scale Israeli military action against Hamas in Gaza is not likely to remain unanswered by the Egyptian regime. For now, Egypt needs to reestablish security in the Sinai Peninsula and throughout the country, where Islamist groups have set up cells aiming to topple the government.
      That Egypt will evolve into something resembling today's Turkey is hardly guaranteed. To do so, the Brotherhood must give up its longtime dream of imposing shari'a and instead strike a moderate course. Protecting the rights of women and religious minorities in the new state will require a constant struggle. Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah was formerly foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and deputy head for assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence. (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
• Lessening UNRWA's Damage? - Steven J. Rosen and Daniel Pipes
  The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has become an agency that perpetuates the refugee problem rather than contributing to its resolution. UNRWA does not work to settle refugees. Its camps and schools endlessly promote futile dream that the millions of descendants of refugees someday will "return" to their ancestors' homes in Israel.
      With funds provided by foreign governments, UNRWA helps one-third of the population in the West Bank and three-quarters in Gaza. Without these funds, Israel could face international demands that it assume the burden of care for these populations.
      Washington should treat UNRWA as a vehicle to deliver social services, nothing more. It should insist that UNRWA beneficiaries who either were never displaced or who already have citizenship in other countries are not refugees. Steven Rosen heads the Washington Project of the Middle East Forum and Daniel Pipes is president of the Forum. (Jerusalem Post)

Settling Truths - Editorial (Jerusalem Post)

• Three legal experts on a government-appointed advisory body have concluded that the 45-year-old settlement project, which has reunited the Jewish people to land resonating with Jewish history dating back thousands of years, cannot in any way be construed as an international crime.
• Backed up by their intimate knowledge of international law, they argue that the British Mandate, which was ratified by the League of Nations, called for the creation of "a national home for the Jewish people" in the territory west of the Jordan River, including Judea and Samaria.
• The 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine never replaced the British Mandate since it was rejected by both the Palestinian Arab Higher Committee and by the states of the Arab League. While in the wake of Israel's War of Independence, Jordan seized control of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and parts of Jerusalem, Jordan's sovereignty was never recognized by the international community.
• Thus, the territory enjoys a unique status in international law as land that has never been unequivocally set aside for a specific people by the international community.
• While these conclusions might not succeed in convincing Israel's detractors that settlements are legal, at least the plain truth has now been reiterated - for the record.
  
      See also The Commission to Examine the Status of Building in Judea and Samaria - Conclusion and Recommendations (Prime Minister's Office)
  
      See also U.S. Opposes Settlement Report - Gabe Fisher
  The U.S. government came out Monday against the findings of the Levy Committee Report, which recommended legalizing most West Bank outposts. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said, "We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, and we oppose any effort to legalize settlement outposts."  (Times of Israel)