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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (Flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff October 22, 2007 |
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According to media reports, the three Fatah officers accused of plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on August 6 were rearrested on Friday following their release one month ago. Two were detained by PA security forces, and the third by Israeli security personnel. The information contradicted media leaks on Sunday that said the men were still on the loose.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said he was unaware of the men's release. PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad also shirked responsibility for the occurrence, saying he was not in charge of the security forces.
The PA provided conflicting explanations as to why the three men were released. According to one explanation by a senior Palestinian official, the plot was not substantial enough to press charges. "They lacked the means, they had no plan and the whole matter was just conversations among excited young men," the official said.
According to a second explanation by PA officials, the release was a mistake, and they were rearrested as soon as the error was discovered.
It is still unclear why the head of the Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin, would choose to leak the information on Sunday, four months after the plot was discovered, one month after the suspects were released, and two days after they were rearrested.
According to speculation in the Jerusalem Post, a possible explanation for Diskin's timing is that Olmert wanted to buy leeway in negotiations with Abbas in advance of the summit in Annapolis. Abbas, becoming increasingly inflexible in his demands, is insisting on concrete agreements on "core issues" along with a timeline, a move that Israel opposes.
The incident indeed demonstrates the PA's lack of reliability, which Israeli officials noted in public statements. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, for example, slammed the PA leadership, calling the incident "a classic example of the PA's policy of yaani [make-believe]. This is not a 'revolving door' policy. For there to be a door, one needs a prison and a structure and the Palestinians have nothing," Haaretz reported.
Perhaps Diskin had in mind that the international community would put less pressure on Israel to fully comply with the PA's demands if they are shown, as they were this weekend, that Abbas does not have a handle on his security forces.
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