Let's get this straight: Israel releases 500 Arab prisoners, and Mahmoud Abbas has been pressured to approve the executions of 15 men accused of collaborating with Israel.



That's one of a series of transgressions on the part of the Arabs in just the past few weeks. None of it bodes well for the future of relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.



These bad omens are topped by terrorists attacks. First was the infamous February 25 Tel Aviv bombing that murdered five Israelis waiting in line outside a nightclub. On Thursday, March 4, a Palestinian woman and her four children were wounded when terrorists detonated a car bomb outside Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, according to the New York Post.



Now, after Israel releases 500 Arabs from its prisons, their thanks is the prospective executions of 15 charged with collaborating with Israel. The top Islamic authority approved death sentences of these defendants, the Post reported.



There was hope that these men, who were condemned by military tribunals during the past four years, would be granted clemency under the new Palestinian leadership. Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, asked the imam Klima A-Sabri to rule on the issue and A-Sabri affirmed their sentences. This left Abbas to make the final decision, which is pending at this writing.



With these 500 inmates freed, what are the chances that a substantial number of them will engage in terrorist activities?



In Jenin, a thug intimidated a PA official into backing down from arresting him, according to the Associated Press. When Interior Minister Nasser Yousef visited the local police headquarters, local terrorist leader Zakariye Zubeydi and seven of his followers fired in the air outside the building.



Zubeydi, local leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, complained that Yousef neglected to coordinate the meeting with him and demanded that the security chief leave, the AP reported.



He even had the temerity to declare, "Every city has its own gate, and Nasser Yousef did not come through the proper gate of Jenin."



Yousef responded by firing local security chief Fayez Arafat - yep, a relative of the recently deceased you-know-who - and insisted on Zubeydi's arrest. Arafat's dismissal prodded the appearance of 600 police officers to the headquarters as reinforcements.



Instead of arresting Zubeydi, Yousef allowed Zubeydi to meet with him. The thug entered the building carrying a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest and left the building still a free man. Yousef refused to talk about his reversal, the AP reported.



Also ominous, the Bush administration may renew CIA training courses for Palestinian security officers enrolled in the Palestinian General Intelligence Service. They were trained to pursue terrorists and avert attacks on Israel, but some of them turned around to become terrorists who planned attacks on Israel themselves, the New York Daily News reported.



Raafat Bajali, class of 1998, became a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and was killed in 2001 when a bomb he was producing exploded in his face. Khaled Abu Nijmeh, from the Deheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, was suspected in a series of attacks against Israelis. In May 2002, he was among 13 gunmen escorted from the Church of the Nativity siege in Bethlehem, flown to Cyprus and then to exile in Europe.



Abu Nijmeh told the Daily News straight out: "I am a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and a first sergeant in Palestinian General Intelligence. I personally received a course in anti-terrorism and VIP treatment."



Gerald Steinberg, a political analyst at Bar-Ilan University, said, "The CIA and British efforts to train Palestinians during the Oslo process helped strengthen terrorist capabilities."



Yet, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month rationalized that America can play a key role in "the training of the Palestinian security forces and in making sure that they are security forces that are part of the solution, not part of the problem."



Abbas has since called on Israel to return to the negotiating table now and to give the Palestinian Authority control of West Bank towns while failing to control terrorism, but my favorite was blaming Israel for the Tel Aviv bombing.



The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Abbas told Time magazine: "If you ask me who is responsible, the Israelis are responsible. The bombers came from the suburb of Tulkarm to Tel Aviv, crossing the wall. So who is responsible? The wall and the Israelis."



Enough said.