Three people were injured on Tuesday, following the deployment to the Jenin governorship last Saturday of a large PA military force, which included the US trained Presidential Guard, to squelch any resistance to the brutal and murderous Israeli occupation, in what has been called “Operation Smile and Hope”, a military operation which will encompass some 50 villages and towns.The government of George W Bush has so far spent $28 million in training and equipment to make sure that Mahmoud Abbas is able to deliver his country and his people before the end of the year, as promised. This effort is considered vital if the US is going to be able to finalize a pace agreement by the end of the year between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.
However, many international observers are still trying to fathom out what kind of agreement could be reached when Hamas and Gaza are not part of the equation. Another fundamental point is the future of the Jewish settlements, illegal under International Law, not to mention that both Abbas and Olmert [and Bush] are very week, tarnished leaders with very little time available to them.
During Tuesday’s clashes, a 20-year-old student was critically injured by a bullet to the head, according to medical and security officials. In a different incident, two other people were shot in the legs. Islamic Jihad said that two of its fighters were among the injured.
The operation began before dawn with hundreds of Abbas’s security officers swamping the town of Qabatiyeh, just south of Jenin against a stronghold of armed groups such as Islamic Jihad that have sworn to fight the Israeli occupation. Exchanges of fire could be heard all morning as Abbas’s forces tried to take control, but it is still not clear if they have managed to make any progress.
According to a Western security source “This is a clear indication of the resolve by Prime Minister [Salam] Fayyad and President Abbas to show Israel and the West that they are the people to do business with.”
On the other hand, General Thiyab al-Ali, the Commander of the Palestinian Security Forces in the West Bank, has complained that not all the equipment promised for the Presidential Guard by the US administration has been delivered. This equipment includes bulletproof jeeps and other combat vehicles, which at the moment are being blocked by the Israelis.
The Israelis want to first make sure that this kind of equipment is secure and that it will not be used against them in the future.
In another development in Israel on Tuesday, police and prosecutors submitted a request to hear testimony from a non-Israeli witness, who is thought to be at the centre of an ever-growing scandal involving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
At the end of last week, police asked to question Olmert at short notice. Ever since, newspapers, television stations and radio networks have been full with speculation that the allegations will lead to indictment, and eventually to the Prime Minister’s resignation.
It is public knowledge that the case against Olmert involves allegations of bribery and that an American businessman is also involved. The courts have imposed a blanket ban that prevents the publication of any details.
Olmert, as many other Israeli politicians, has been investigated many times for alleged corruption, but this time, it could be the one where the prosecutors are successful. If Olmert is forced out, it could be yet another obstacle for the US-backed peace talks that were re-started in November but have produced no results.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni from Olmert’s Kadima Party, and the settlers' favourite, the hawkish former Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu from the Likud Party, await expectant for the results of the corruption investigation hoping to succeed Olmert if he should be compelled to resign.
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