Ha’aretz is reporting that

The Palestinian militants suspected of plotting to attack Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s convoy earlier this year were arrested for a second time on Friday and will face a military trial, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Sunday.Olmert said Sunday that Israel would “not look the other way” on a plot by a terrorist cell from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction to attack his convoy this past summer in the West Bank city of Jericho.

Arrested again?

Following the incident, Israel gave the PA intelligence information regarding the terrorists’ identities, and several were arrested by the PA intelligence services. Several additional Fatah men were arrested by Israel during West Bank raids.Nonetheless, the PA last week released those terrorists it had detained, despite the fact that, according to Diskin, they had admitted to planning the attack.

So members of the security service of Israel’s moderate peace partners used confidential information to plan an attack on Israel’s Prime Minister. Then they were released. How does the Prime Minister feel about this turn of events?

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Nevertheless, referring to the early release of the suspects, Olmert said that the PA’s conduct was “a source of discomfort.”"Israel will find the manner in which to express its discomfort on the issue,” he said before leaving Israel for France.

Discomfort? Look if he needs a thesaurus I’ll happily provide him with appropriate terms. Let’s start with “outrage.” Apparently, though, Prime Minister Olmert doesn’t think an attempt on his was that serious.

“However, [Israel] has no intention of halting negotiations with the Palestinians.”

So an attempt on the life of a nation’s prime minister by a supposed peace partner is not a cause for alarm.

Good to know.

LGF observes

Assassination plots make Olmert a bit uncomfortable, but apparently not so uncomfortable that he doesn’t want to give the Palestinians a state, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount.

PowerLine suggests a disturbing implication about the plot.

This past December, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that United States officials were training Fatah “security forces” loyal to Abbas (more here). Could those Fatah “security forces” that plotted to kill Olmert have received any of their training from the United States? I doubt that Secretary Rice will be looking for an answer to that question as she seeks to engineer the kind of “peace” that would bear roughly the same relation to peace as Fatah’s “security forces” do to security forces.

I suppose then that Secretary Rice isn’t that different from PM Olmert in outlook. Nothing ought to derail the peace process.
Israel Matzav sums up the problem exactly.

Why would the ‘Palestinians’ want to assassinate Olmert when he’s ready to give them everything (or nearly everything) they want? Because the ‘Palestinians’ don’t really want a state reichlet. They don’t want to deal with trash collection and schools and road repairs and water quality. They’re a ‘revolution.’ They don’t want to govern. They want to destroy the Jewish state. Olmert may think he’s giving them what they want. But he’s not. In the same way that they couldn’t govern Gaza, they won’t be able to govern Judea and Samaria either - if God forbid it is ever given to them. And they have no interest in even trying. Without their ‘war’ with Israel, they have nothing to offer the ‘Palestinian people.’

He also remembers a time when Olmert considered an attack on an Israeli minister a serious matter.

And why didn’t Olmert send the IDF to arrest them like he did when the PA tried to let Rehavam Zeevi HY”D’s killers go? At the time, Abu Mazen called that raid unforgivable.

Why isn’t it important now?

via memeorandum.

More comments at Simply Jews.

Crossposted at Soccer Dad.

From Ynet:

A group of gunmen affiliated with Fatah attempted to hit Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s convoy as it made its way from Jerusalem to Jericho for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on August 6, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet ministers Sunday morning.

So, let me see if I get it right: while Olmert, happy and peace-minded, puts the final touch on his makeup, sprays his hair and whatnot for the meeting with the Fatah boss, some Fatah employees prepare a hit. That will be business as usual, as it goes, but:

Following the incident, the Palestinians arrested three suspects, who were later released, according to Israeli officials. Two other cell members are being held in Israel.

Israeli security sources expressed their anger over the release, which took place “after these terrorists’ involvement in the foiled attack was made clear.”

Which is a bit too much even for the famed West Bank hospitality. But no worries, you can always re-read this to get you back in the mood.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.

You know, those of us with brothers know the drill. They can be the biggest pains in the ass when you’re growing up, and frankly, can be that way once you’re grown as well.

But my big brother drove to Richmond for me Friday night. I called him on Thursday because I am a little overwhelmed by the bat mitzvah preparation, and there are things that simply have to be done in my apartment that were also overwhelming me. So he came down, and we spent yesterday afternoon turning my spare room back into my office, which is what it was supposed to be all along, not the storage room for things I can’t find a place for. It is nearly done, and can now be used as a spare bedroom, which is probably where Eric will stay and save on the hotel bill.

The cats are impressed with the new room. There are empty boxes still to be broken down that they played in.

And the laptop, docking station, and 24-inch screen from work now have a proper desk. All I need to get is a new computer chair and I’m set.

Esser Agaroth has posted a very fine Haveil Havlaim #137!

It’s about Israel, slices of life, media bias and Ann Coulter (again).