Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated the release of Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti in a prisoner release deal is not an option.
--Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will tell American President George W. Bush that Israel supports a request from Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas for more guns and the presence of a Jordanian-based force, according to United Press International (UPI). Israel earlier this year approved a previous request for more guns for Abbas, who is trying to build up his personal army in order to ward off Hamas's new terrorist army.
--A senior reserve officer who investigated circumstances surrounding the July 12 kidnapping of two IDF soldiers by Hizbullah terrorists told a press conference that the abduction could have been prevented. Major General Doron Almog revealed that officers in the field did not conduct any exercises to prepare for kidnappings. The reserve unit, from which Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped, went out on patrol "almost as if they were on a hike," said Maj.-Gen. Almog.