• Israel has re-engaged the German mediator on the topic of freeing Gilad Schalit. [NYT]
• Talks have also initiated, at least among high-level Israelis, over how to free convicted spy Jonathan Pollard from the United States. [JPost]
• The Leviathan prospect, thought to be a major natural gas field off Israel’s northern coast, is about to be drilled. [WSJ]
• As it struggles for traction against the ruling, Islamist AKP, Turkey’s staunchly secularist opposition party revamped its platform, including calling for closer ties with Israel. [WSJ]
• Secretary of State Kissinger felt limited by Vietnam in how much support he could offer Israel during the Yom Kippur War, new documents show. [Haaretz]
• Novelist Belva Plain, famous for multigenerational epics about Jewish-Americans, died at 95. [NYT]
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.