Today's Situation

THE OLMERT PLOT, October 22, 2007

Sunday's big news - the Shin Bet's announcement that it had uncovered a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by detonating a bomb next to his convoy as it made its way to a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Jericho in June - barely makes it onto the front pages of Israel's highest circulation newspaper. Instead, Yedioth Ahronoth leads with confirmation that Tami Arad received a letter, written by her husband, missing Israeli airman Ron Arad, as part of last week's exchange deal between Israel and Hizbollah.

According to the paper, Tami Arad authenticated the letter and a photograph at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on Monday, telling officials that she recognized the handwriting and the pet names used in it. According to reports, Arad's letter to his wife was lengthy and he wrote of his love for her, their daughter and his family. The letter's authenticity, said sources in the Defense Ministry, was unquestionable.

Maariv, meanwhile, leads with what French President Nicolas Sarkozy will tell Olmert when the two leaders meet in Paris today. According to Maariv, Sarkozy will say that France has not ruled out the possibility of military strike against Iran, but will first try to convince other nations to tighten sanctions against Tehran. In addition, the paper claims, the French leader will urge Olmert to 'take risks for the sake of peace.'

Haaretz, meanwhile, leads on the assassination plot against Olmert. By coincidence, the paper's Palestinian affairs correspondent, Avi Issacharoff, was visiting Jericho at the same time that Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin was making his announcement to the cabinet, and was able to check his claim that the Palestinian Authority had released the suspected members of the cell that was plotting the attack. In its banner headline, the paper declares that the would-be assassins were 'Arrested, released and then rearrested.'

According to Issacharoff, he personally saw and spoke to two of the alleged plotters, disproving Diskin's claim that the PA had released them. 'It seems that Diskin forgot to tell the government that last Friday, the PA rearrested two of the three suspects again in compliance with an Israeli request,' Issacharoff writes. 'Moreover, the Shin Bet recently arrested the third suspect, bringing to three the number of suspects held by Israel.'

Israel Radio, meanwhile, reports that Palestinian security officials now say the two men imprisoned in Jericho were not arrested on suspicion of planning to attack convoy. According to the sources, the two men were arrested over internal Palestinian issues. They were detained at the end of September, released, and rearrested a few days ago. One of the men reportedly told reporters that he was involved in a plan to attack Olmert, but he now denies the claim.

Reactions to Diskin's revelation came thick and fast on Sunday, with politicians from the right and the center of the political spectrum calling on Olmert to cancel his planned participation in the Annapolis summit - something the prime minister ruled out.

In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, Army Radio reports that Hamas and Fateh-loyal members of the Hils clan in Gaza City have reached a ceasefire, after a weekend of violence left at least eight people dead. Hamas security forces and members of the clan began fighting last Wednesday. According to the ceasefire agreement, members of the clan will not be visibly armed in public and will not set up their own roadblocks. The clan has also agreed to hand over members suspected of attacking local civilians.

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