Kept Secret During Annapolis: PA Police Murdered Ido Zoldan

Last week Israel gave Fatah two million bullets, following the recent Israeli transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars to Fatah along with the pardon of hundreds of imprisoned and fugitive Fatah terrorists.

It doesn't seem to have helped in Israel's War on Terror:

Palestinian policemen were behind the shooting attack last week which killed Ido Zoldan, a 29 year-old father of two from the settlement of Shavei Shomron, the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed Sunday night.

Zoldan was killed last Monday night - the day before the Annapolis summit began - when shots were fired at his car as he drove past the Palestinian village of al-Punduk.

The three members of the cell were Palestinian policemen and members of the Palestinian National Security Force, which Israel and the United States have been investing in as part of the international effort to strengthen Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah government.

Defense officials said that the weapon used in the attack was not supplied to the Palestinians by Israel since it did not belong to the official Palestinian security forces.

The shooters admitted that the weapons were given to them by Fadi Jama, another member of the Palestinian National Security Force. Given that Israel supplies that group with money, it is not inconceivable that Israeli money was used to buy non-Israeli weapons.

The officials said however that the IDF expected the political echelon to rethink its policy of strengthening Abbas while his policemen were involved in terrorism.

The IDF thinks too simplistically. Clearly these were rogue, anti-peace policemen who must have wanted to sully Fatah's peaceful reputation, so the sophisticated response should be to shower the PA with more money, weapons and anti-terrorism training. Today, Israel is beginning the release of 429 more Palestinian terrorists, but don't worry. They signed a promise to refrain from attacks in the future.

Update: Here's how we know the news was held until after Annapolis:

Israeli security officials knew Zoldan was murdered by PA policemen, because two of the three terrorists who shot him to death were arrested the next day in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation.

The information was withheld until after the Annapolis summit, however, and only cleared for publication after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert returned from signing a joint declaration with PA Chairman, and acknowledged Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

Zoldan was shot to death by the three terrorists at approximately 11:30 pm near the PA-controlled Arab village of Funduk, near Kedumim.