JERUSALEM — Palestinian militants plotted to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when he traveled to the West Bank in August to meet with the Palestinian president, Israeli officials said Sunday.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Olmert’s life was never seriously in danger. He said Palestinian security arrested three men after Israel passed on intelligence reports about the plot but released them for lack of evidence after holding them for three months.
The reported plot, with its implicit criticism of President Mahmoud Abbas’ inability to control Palestinian militants, came to light as Israel and the Palestinians are negotiating the outlines of a peace agreement in time for an upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast conference.
Olmert is under heavy Palestinian pressure to make concessions ahead of the summit. Key members of his governing coalition have threatened to pull out of his government if Olmert goes too far.
Israel Army Radio quoted Olmert as saying he would attend the summit despite the assassination plot and the release of the arrested men.
“Israel won’t look the other way, but we won’t halt the dialogue,” he was quoted as saying.
In his Cabinet testimony Sunday, Shin Bet security police director Yuval Diskin said gunmen linked to Abbas’ Fatah movement planned to attack Olmert’s convoy as it entered the West Bank town of Jericho on Aug. 6.
A government official said Israel decided to disclose word of the plot because the Palestinians had released the suspects.Olmert’s office has protested the men’s release to Abbas.
The meeting in Jericho was Olmert’s first with Abbas on Palestinian soil after seven years of bloody fighting, and the location was as significant as the content.
