Palestinian gunmen 'planned to assassinate Olmert'

Gunmen planned to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when he went to the West Bank in August to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a security chief reportedly told Israel’s Cabinet today.

Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin told the Cabinet that 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 of the plan, and an unspecified number of militants affiliated with Abbas’s Fatah movement were arrested, the newspaper said.

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

The report had no further details about how close the men got to carrying out the plot.

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

Israeli and Palestinian security forces worked together to protect the Israeli leader, and Abbas gained stature by hosting Olmert. Every other meeting has been held at Olmert’s Jerusalem residence.