3-Dec-07: The murderers are the Pal police. Who'd have guessed?

Three members of the Palestinian Authority police have confessed to the murder of the young father shot to death in his car in a drive-by shooting two weeks ago. (We reported the terror attack in "20-Nov-07: A worrying escalation")

IDF arrests cell that murdered Israeli in West Bank
Palestinian policemen behind shooting of Ido Zoldan two weeks ago apprehended by Israel, Palestinian security forces. 'We told the settler's family that we would reach every cell member – and so we did,' IDF official says | Efrat Weiss Published: 12.03.07, 00:06 / Israel News
The IDF arrested members of a cell responsible for the murder of Ido Zoldan two weeks ago close to the northern West Bank settlement of Kedumim, it was cleared for publication on Sunday. According to army officials, the arrested men are Palestinian policemen from the nearby village of Qadum. The IDF reported that two of the men, Abdullah Braham and Jafar Braham, were arrested on the night of the murder. A third terrorist, Fadi Jama'a, was apprehended by Palestinian security forces. The cell members are all 22 years of age. Security sources said that during their interrogation by Shin Bet the men admitted to committing the murder, and even disclosed the weapon used in the shooting. They said that on the night of the murder they waited by the side of the road for an Israeli car to pass. The gunmen then proceeded to follow Zoltan's vehicle, then opened fire as they went driving passed it. The attack occurred on November 20 at around 11:30 pm near the Palestinian village of Funduk. Magen David Adom paramedics who were called to the site attempted to revive Zoldan, a resident of Shavei Shomron, but pronounced him dead a short while later. An IDF official told Ynet after the cell was captured "Immediately following the murder we told Zoldan's family that and the residents that we would reach every cell member – and so we did. The IDF will continue to hunt down terrorists." Shortly after the attack, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's military wing, announced that it was assuming responsibility for the event. A spokesman for the organization said that the terror attack was "an act of protest against the Annapolis conference and a response to Israeli crimes". Zoldan was survived by his wife Tehila and his two small children, three-year-old Aharon and one-year-old Rachel.

(The Palestinian police officer beating some of his fellow citizens in the photo above is not directly connected to this story. The PA has many violent young men to choose from when it recruits. Despite the evidence of the mayhem caused by adding active terrorists to the ranks of the police, several public figures from outside this area have called on the Palestinians to do more of the same.)

This is what we know to expect from their police. Is there a reason to expect a better outcome when we release their convicted prisoners? 150 of them left Ketziot Prison on their way to the Erez crossing and the Bitunia checkpoint a few hours ago. 143 other Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel ("as part of a goodwill gesture by the Israeli government to the PA") earlier. Some 429 of them will be free on the streets (408 in the West Bank, 21 in Gaza) by the end of today. The convicted murderer Marwan Barghouti says this release is a joke but he's very wrong.