ISLAMIC JIHAD REJECTS AMNESTY FOR TERROR END

BEFORE ALL IS SAID AND DONE, THE ONLY TERRORIST WHO WILL ACCEPT AMNESTY IN EXCHANGE FOR CEASING TERROR IS ABBAS HIMSELF - MAYBE. BUT CERTAINLY NOT ANY OF THE TERRORISTS IN THE WEST BANK - VERY FEW OF WHOM HE SEEMS TO CONTROL.

Islamic Jihad Turns Down Amnesty Plan (INN)
The Islamic Jihad terror gang says it refused an Israeli offer of amnesty for 20 of its top wanted terrorists in exchange for their cessation of terrorism.

It was announced over the weekend that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had agreed to grant a three-month amnesty to nearly 180 Fatah terror leaders, in exchange for their signatures on a commitment to cease terrorism. The stated reason was to strengthen Fatah chief and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

Islamic Jihad now says it, too, was offered such a deal - despite the fact that it (Islamic Jihad) is not affiliated with Fatah.

WorldNetDaily.com (WND) reports that the list of 178 wanted Fatah terrorists includes almost the entire senior leadership of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group - the organization that has claimed responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel over the past three years.

The WND report states that the list includes the head of Al Aqsa, local chiefs in several PA-controlled cities, the Al Aqsa cell that sent a suicide bomber to murder 11 people in Tel Aviv in April 2006 (including American teenager Daniel Wultz), and the Brigades murderer of Binyamin Kahane and his wife Talia in a drive-by shooting attack in December 2000.

Chana Bart, a wheelchair-bound mother who was paralyzed in a terror attack in Gush Katif several years ago and was later thrown out of her home in Kfar Darom during the Disengagement, wrote a letter of protest to PM Olmert. "I am bound to my wheelchair, and those who tried to murder me will now be free?!" she wrote.

The amnesty given to the 178 is one of three gestures Olmert is offering Abu Mazen as a way of propping him up in the face of expected Hamas pressures. Hamas overran Gaza several weeks ago, effectively exiling Fatah from the area. The other gestures are the release of 250 terrorists from prison, and an entry permit to arch-terrorist Naif Hawatmeh, responsible for the Maalot school children massacre (26 dead) and other heinous attacks against Israel.

Islamic Jihad claims it received the offer to participate in the amnesty plan via the PA offices in Ramallah. A senior terrorist of the organization said that Islamic Jihad was to choose any 20 of its wanted members to have included on the list. Islamic Jihad turned down the offer, however, saying that Israel must offer a full-scale ceasefire, and not just vis-a-vis those who promise to cease terrorism.