Israel reveals Olmert plot

PALESTINIAN Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said yesterday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was never seriously threatened by an assassination plot and promised to do his best to rein in West Bank militants.

There was nothing “imminently dangerous”, Mr Fayyad said as he arrived for a meeting in Jerusalem.

“We are trying the very best we can to bring law and order to the cities, villages and areas that are under our control.”

Gunmen planned to assassinate the Israeli prime minister when he went to the West Bank in August to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in August, a security chief had reportedly told Israel’s cabinet yesterday.

Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin told the cabinet a convoy was to be attacked as it entered the West Bank town of Jericho on August 6, the Haaretz newspaper reported.

Israel notified Palestinian authorities and an unspecified number of militants affiliated with Mr Abbas’s Fatah movement were arrested, the newspaper said.

Although the men admitted they planned the attack, the Palestinian Authority released them. Mr Olmert’s office has protested about their release to Mr Abbas, the newspaper said.

The meeting was Mr Olmert’s first with Mr Abbas on Palestinian soil after seven years of fighting, and the location was seen as significant.

Every other meeting has been held at Mr Olmert’s Jerusalem residence.