And the PA has been claiming since then that the murderers of David Rubin and Ahikam Amihai were unaffiliated terrorists.

From the Jeruselum Post:

The terrorists who gunned down two off-duty soldiers hiking near Hebron on Friday are both Palestinian Authority workers, and one of them is even a member of the official PA security forces, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) revealed Tuesday night.

This is similar, though, to the murder of John Granville in Khartoum, which follows a disturbing pattern. The New York Sun editorializes on this unfortunate fact here, reflecting on John Granville’s murder in Khartoum, pointing out a disturbing pattern:

The American ambassador to Sudan, Cleo Noel, and another American embassy official, George Curtis Moore, were killed in Khartoum in 1973. The State Department, years later, after being pressed by Scott Johnson of Powerlineblog.com, acknowledged, “The Khartoum operation was planned and carried out with the full knowledge and personal approval of Yasir Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the head of Fatah.” Arafat was never held to account for the attack — instead he was received at the White House and Camp David and honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Of course, Granville’s murder couldn’t possibly have been premeditated Jihad, now could it?

We live in a world where we play paddycake with terrorists and send money to them, have Saudi wahhabi Bin Ladenist style mosques going up in our neighborhoods, blinded families of murdered Flight 93 passengers and crew overlook the Islamic symbols in a memorial mosque honoring the terrorists who killed them. It’s like an alternate universe where you can’t find reality. Not to mention the Haditha debacle, which involves Congressman Murtha declaring marines killed innocent Iraqi civilians in cold blood before the investigation was even complete. In addition to Time’s Tim McGirk who had Thanksgiving with the Taliban.

But back to the Israeli soldiers:

David Rubin and Ahikam Amihai, the gunmen, Ali Dandis, 24, and Amar Taha, 26, surrendered on the day of the attack to the Palestinian security forces in Hebron out of fear that they would be caught by the IDF.

They also handed over the weapons they captured from the hikers.

Dandis worked as a clerk at the Sharia courts in Hebron. Both are residents of the West Bank city, security officials said. They noted that Friday’s attack was not the first time that Palestinian security officials or policemen were involved in terror attacks. Last month, Ido Zoldan was gunned down in the West Bank by Palestinian terrorists that turned out to be members of the PA security forces.

KHALED ABU TOAMEH :

Some of the gunmen who participated in Friday’s shooting attack near Hebron belong to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, Fatah activists in the West Bank confirmed over the weekend.

They said the attack was carried out jointly by Fatah and Islamic Jihad members.

Well, duh!

The involvement of Fatah members in the attack is seen as a serious embarrassment for Abbas and the PA, whose representatives were quick to denounce the perpetrators, pledging to crack down on all armed groups in the West Bank.

Well of course they’re going to say that, it’s like Karzai’s claim that they’re ‘fighting the Taliban’ when in fact he’s in bed with them.

The attack shows that several armed Fatah groups continue to operate in the West Bank despite statements by top PA officials to the effect that most of these groups had been dismantled.

When are people going to wake up?

Although many members of Fatah’s armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, have in recent months handed over their weapons to the PA security forces in return for jobs and salaries, dozens of Fatah gunmen are still refusing to follow suit.

Dozens?

Hoping to get better jobs and salaries, these gunmen have set up small militias in various parts of the West Bank.

Others have refused to surrender their weapons for ideological reasons, preferring to join forces with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

One of these Fatah militias is called Fursan al-Layil (Horsemen of the Night), which is active in the old city of Nablus. Other Fatah gunmen are operating under the auspices of other militias called the Yasser Arafat Groups and the Martyr Ayman Judeh Groups, which took credit for Friday’s attack.

On Saturday, the IDF arrested a number of Fatah activists belonging to the Yasser Arafat Groups in Hebron on suspicion of involvement in the killing of the two IDF soldiers on Friday.

Among those arrested was the leader of the group in Hebron, Ahmed Abu Sittah, also known as Abu Suleiman.

One of the gunmen killed in the attack, Basel al-Natsheh, was also known in Hebron as a Fatah activist, although his father, Nabil, is a Hamas member who is serving time in an Israeli prison.

What does it matter? They’re terrorists.

Six other members of the al-Natsheh clan, brothers Naim, Firas and Hazem and brothers Nu’man, Abdullah and Shadi, were also arrested by the IDF. They, too, are said to be members of the Yasser Arafat Groups in Hebron.

Fatah activists said the attack may be linked to the faction’s preparations to celebrate its 43rd anniversary this week. The attackers, they explained, were apparently hoping to send a message to the Palestinian public that, contrary to claims by Hamas, Fatah has not abandoned the path of armed struggle.

Nor will they ever, so people need to get a clue! Israel has the strategy right where terrorism is concerned; show no mercy; they’ve been raised since they were babies to kill the infidel; it’s called Jihad for kids!

Jihad for Kids!

Posted Oct 26, 2005

Following Arafat’s death, the P.A. ran this kid-friendly message on Palestinian TV.

But while such attacks help Fatah score points on the Palestinian street, they also embarrass the PA leadership in Ramallah, especially in front of the international community, which has just pledged to channel to more than $9 billion to the Palestinians over the next three years.

An absolute waste of money! To imagine this won’t have dire consequences is to be delusional.

Woman Honor Thyself has a wonderful post about these two soldiers.