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Friday October 26, 2007

Shorts: Mideast

Fatah contradicts itself regarding assassination try

Fatah has released contradictory statements following the report of an attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad confirmed that a group of gunmen affiliated with Fatah attempted to hit Olmert’s convoy as it made its way from Jerusalem to Jericho for a meeting with Palestinian President Abbas in June.

Fayyad said, “We are studying the incident and plan to do our best to restore the order in the region… We will draw all the possible lessons so that a similar incident does not repeat itself in the future.”

Fatah spokesperson Ahmed Abdul Rahman, however, said, “This is a false story meant to undermine the efforts of the Fatah movement and President Mahmoud Abbas to reach a just peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.” — ynetnews.com

Abbas: Peace by end of 2008

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed confidence this week that a solution would be found to the Middle East crisis before the end of 2008.

Abbas said the Palestinians were in “serious talks” with the Israeli side ahead of the U.S.-hosted peace conference, scheduled to be held next month in Annapolis, Md. — ap

Rabin assassin’s confession released

Israeli police released footage of Yigal Amir, Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin, confessing to the 1995 murder.

The footage, which was broadcast on Israeli television this week ahead of events marking 12 years since Rabin’s death, shows Amir describing how he waited for the prime minister at a Tel Aviv peace rally and shot him three times before being subdued by security guards.

Asked by a police officer whether he has regrets about murdering Rabin, Amir says: “Heaven forbid!” — jta

Olmert cleared in real estate probe

An Israeli prosecutor decided this week that there was insufficient evidence to launch a criminal investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over two real estate deals in which he was involved.

Olmert is still the target of a number of investigations, including one that he allegedly made illegal appointments at the Small Business Authority during his tenure as industry, trade and labor minister. — ynetnews.com

Peres: Pollard was almost released

Israel once came close to securing the release of convicted Pentagon spy Jonathan Pollard, but the American security services vetoed the move at the last moment, President Shimon Peres was quoted by Army Radio as saying last week.

Peres said the United States was being “surprisingly stubborn” on the Pollard issue. The president went on to say that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was still working to free Pollard and had even filed a new request to the U.S. to pardon the prisoner. — jps

Israel receives letter from POW

Israel obtained a two-decade-old letter written in captivity by Ron Arad, its most famous missing soldier, as part of a recent exchange with the Hezbollah guerrilla group, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said this week.

The letter from Ron Arad, a navigator who abandoned his Phantom jet over Lebanon in 1986 and whose fate is unknown, was turned over last week as part of a deal in which Israel returned a mentally ill Hezbollah man and two fighters’ bodies in return for the body of an Israeli who drowned in the Mediterranean and washed up in Lebanon. — ap

Dig yields artifacts linked to First Temple era

Israeli archeologists say they have stumbled upon a sealed archeological level dating to the First Temple period.

The discovery at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, where the archeologists are overseeing contested Islamic infrastructure work, was announced this week by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The find marks the first time that archeological remains dating back to the First Temple period have been found on the bitterly contested holy site. — jta

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