And the IDF backs off Fatah

So now, apparently, all it takes to stop being chased by the IDF is to sign an agreement saying that you really, truly, honestly don’t want to be a terrorist any more.

The Israel Defense Forces has significantly cut down on operations involving arrests of wanted Palestinian militants in the West Bank, as a result of agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Since Thursday morning, no such operations have been carried out in the West Bank.

This new development is linked to the meeting Monday between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, but also to the security program of the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayad, and to Israel’s decision to offer pardons to 178 Fatah militants sought by the Shin Bet security service.

So far, the new regulations have still not been conveyed to the IDF in writing, and Central Command has so far been given only oral instructions.

Unbelievable. But wait. it gets worse.

“For now, we have removed our foot from the gas pedal,” military sources told Haaretz Sunday, referring to the level of intensity with which wanted militants in the West Bank are being hunted down.

Authorization for carrying out arrests of Palestinians about whom there is no specific intelligence concerning a potential threat, will now be required from senior-level officers, the sources say. Normally, such decisions would be made by brigade commanders; now they require the authorization of the GOC Central Command, and possibly the General Staff.

The offficial countdown to the first terrorist attacks began yesterday. Here’s my prediction: Nothing good will come of this, and terrorist attacks will continue. But the world will push Israel to ease checkpoints and allow free passage for the ex-terrorists. Then we’ll really see how much those signed pieces of paper are worth.

Oh, yeah. Nothing.