By Stan Goodenough
Nov 17, 2008
Outgoing and disgraced Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Monday promised PLO terrorist chief Mahmoud Abbas Israel will release 250 Arab prisoners in December.
The amnesty would be a "goodwill gesture" according to the Prime Minister's Office.
Olmert's promise was said to be aimed at bolstering Abbas - Israel's purported peace partner - against Hamas, the Islamist faction that seized control of the Gaza Strip from Abbas' Fatah group.
Abbas himself remains committed to the destruction of Israel and the use of terrorists to help achieve this. Earlier this month he vowed to continue ahead in the path beaten by his mentor and hero Yasser Arafat, and "liberate" Jerusalem with the use of 'martyrs' - jihad-speak for 'suicide' bombers.
During a memorial event commemorating the assassination 15 years ago of Yitzhak Rabin, Olmert last week revealed his readiness to pull out of all lands regained by Israel in 1967 and give them up to Abbas and his thugs.