By Xinhua
Ramallah : A spokesman for Palestinian Fatah movement denied on Sunday Israeli claims that a Fatah cell had planned an attack on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s convoy during earlier visit to the West Bank city of Jericho.
Yuval Diskin, chief of Israel’s internal security service, ShinBet, told the Israeli cabinet on Sunday that Fatah militants have tried to attack Olmert’s convoy when he visited Jericho on Aug. 6.
“We completely reject the claims that Fatah members have tried to attack the convoy… this story is very far from the truth,” Ahmed Abdel Rahman, also an aide to Abbas, said in Ramallah.
He accused Israel of contriving ways to block Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank by denigrating Fatah.
Israel Radio also quoted Diskin as saying that Israel has briefed the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on the information they got over the plotting and the PNA has arrested a number of suspects.
He added that the detainees were released a few days ago despite admitting they were planning to carry out the attack.