Today's Situation

SHARM SUMMIT, June 25, 2007

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert travels to Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday to participate in a four-way summit with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan.

On the Israeli side, there are no great hopes for a breakthrough at the summit. Olmert said at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel has no illusions about Abbas, and recognizes that the Palestinian president could be could be tempted to make another mistake, as he did in signing the power-sharing agreement with Hamas. That said, Olmert stressed that Israel would spare no effort to create a mechanism that would help advance the diplomatic process.

The prime minister's comments came as the cabinet agreed that frozen tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinians will now be transferred to the new Palestinian government in stages. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza dismissed Israel's decision to release funds to Abbas as bribery and said resistance was the only way forward.

On Monday, Israel Radio reports that Abbas and Abdullah met in Jordan ahead of the Sharm summit. Abbas said that he has received assurances from both Israeli and United States officials ahead the summit. He did not give details but said more important than the promises are their implementation on the ground. On his expectations for the summit, Jordan's King Abdullah said it should set a timetable for the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

A statement from the royal palace quoted Abdullah as saying Abbas has Jordan's full support and the Palestinian Authority is the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

In its lead story, Haaretz reports on the limits of Israeli willingness to make good-will gestures to the Palestinians. According to the report, the proposal to lift some of the roadblocks in the West Bank has been postponed, after defense officials rejected the move as too risky. IDF and Shin Bet officials say the checkpoints are an effective way of catching terrorists, and warn that if they are removed the chances of suicide bombings will increase.

On Sunday night, meanwhile, the air force targeted a car being used by terrorist cell to launch Qassams rockets at Israel. One Islamic Jihad member was killed and two others were wounded. It was the first such strike since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip earlier in the month. A spokesman for Islamic Jihad's military wing said the man killed had been involved in many actions against Israel and was on his way to such a mission Sunday night.  Military sources said the cell members were responsible for manufacturing and firing Qassam rockets at Sderot, including the rocket that hit the western Negev town on Sunday.

Yedioth Ahronoth, meanwhile, reports that Israeli intelligence believes Hamas seeks to eventually control the West Bank and the Palestine Liberation Organization, although in the short term its top priority is to ensure quiet and security in the Gaza Strip. Shin bet chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet that Hamas is planning to carry out suicide bombings in order to undermine the efforts by Israel and the West to bolster Abbas.

In the aftermath of an assumed al-Qaeda attack on UNIFIL forces in Lebanon on Sunday, in which six people were killed, Israeli officials said Monday that IDF sources warned of a possible attack several months ago. According to Army Radio, officials said the warnings increased recently due to the fighting between the Lebanese army and terrorist group Fatah Al-Islam in the country's north. At the time, they said, UNIFIL commanders said they would take precautions, but downplayed the seriousness of the situation.

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