Monday was another usual day in the trenches of Israeli life, with two terrorist attacks in the southern region and an attempted attack on Israeli civilians in the central part of the country, all before noon.
Palestinian Authority terrorists in Gaza fired four mortars in an unsuccessful attack on Jewish communities in the western Negev. All of the mortar shells landed in open fields near the security fence, hurting no one and causing no damage.
Gaza operatives also fired at an Israeli Navy vessel patrolling the coastal waters off the region's southern shore. The Israeli ship, which returned fire, was part of a counter-terrorism operation designed to prevent the smuggling of weapons and other arms into Gaza. No injuries or damage were reported.
Farther north, an Arab teenager was intercepted by IDF soldiers on her way to carry out a terrorist attack in Hevron. The 17-year-old girl was caught approaching the Jewish neighborhood of Tel Rumeda with a knife.
Last weekend thousands of Jews poured into Hevron for the annual Sabbath Torah reading about the Biblical Abraham's purchase of the Cave of the Patriarchs, in which he laid the body of his wife Sarah to rest.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is reportedly planning to release more terrorists, this time even with Jewish blood on their hands, as another "good will gesture" to prop up the government of PA Chairman and Fatah gang leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). PA Prime Minister and Finance Minister Salam Fayyad asked Israel to release 2,000 terrorist prisoners, although it is unclear how many of those Olmert will agree to free.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has refrained from making an official announcement of a date for the conference due to Abbas's unwillingness to attend without a promise from Israel to come ready to meet a deadline for the establishment of a permanent PA state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Rice and Abbas told reporters following their meeting Monday afternoon in Ramallah that she hopes both sides can "achieve their goals within the time remaining to the Bush administration."