Israel offers amnesty to group of Palestinians

AP/Washington Post:

Scores of Fatah militants in the West Bank have signed a pledge renouncing attacks against Israel in return for an Israeli promise to stop pursuing them, a Palestinian security official said Sunday.

The deal would grant amnesty to 178 Fatah gunmen who will join the official Palestinian security forces, and Israel will remove them from its lists of wanted militants, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge details of the agreement.

An official in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office confirmed the deal would extend to wanted militants who openly renounce terrorism, and was part of a series of measures to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The moderate president set up a Fatah-led government in the West Bank after his rivals from the Islamic group Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in mid-June. Israel and the international community back Abbas in his struggle against Hamas.

Olmert will meet Abbas on Monday, Olmert's office said, in the first meeting between the two leaders since a June 25 summit that followed the Hamas victory in Gaza. At the meeting, Olmert is expected to present a list of 250 Fatah prisoners Israel will release.

...
This appears to be part of a deal that has grown from the Fatah debacle in Gaza. With Hamas as a mutual enemy, there appears to be growing recognition in the West Bank that the Palestinians need Israel to protect them from the Islamist religious bigots. While the current Fatah leadership is weaker than ever, it is reaching out to Israel and appears ready to make a deal that it has rejected in the past. There have been rumors that Israel and the Palestinians might also invite Jordon to take over responsibility for the West Bank. This would further isolate Hamas and offer Israel a reliable partner who could make an offer of some value to the Israelis. It could guarantee a peace agreement, something that no Palestinian authority has had the credibility to offer.

Paul Greenburg also notes that the Arab League visit to Israel portends a new reality among Arab states pushing for a deal.

Ynet says the gunmen have disarmed as part of the deal.

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