The Palestinian Authority arrested but then released two Hamas militants who were carrying out a terror attack against Israel. The militants were part of a team of three men who were preparing to fire a rocket into Israel according to Palestinian Authority officials. The third man escaped and was never arrested.

Israeli officials were very concerned about the quick release of the militants by the Palestinian Authority which merely confiscated the weapons from the pair before letting them go. Egyptian officials mediated the release of the militants in exchange for a pledge to abide by the cease fire in the future.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry told Reuters, 'If we start seeing a revolving door, as we saw in the past ... this would not be a good sign.' The reference was to the policy of the PA under Yasser Arafat in which militants were arrested to appease the United States and then quickly released without trial or consequences to appease the Palestinian street.

A spokesman for Hamas said the two arrested men were carrying weapons but denied that they were preparing to fire rockets into Israel. According to a spokesman for the PA security forces, rockets were found in the vehicle the men were traveling in.

A gunfight broke out between the Palestinian Authority security officers and the militants before they were arrested.

Palestinian Authority Interior Ministry spokesman Toufiq Abu Khoussa described the clash, saying, 'The three were in a car, en route to fire rockets, when police waved for them to stop. Gunmen opened fire at the police, forcing policemen to fire back.'

Islamic Jihad claimed that it had carried out a rocket attack nearby shortly before the three Hamas militants were arrested. Both Islamic Jihad and Hamas are dedicated to the destruction of Israel and have carried out numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.

It remains to be seen how long Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas can walk this fine line of attempting to control militant groups without disarming them and without confronting them. Abbas is in a precarious position and must show tangible gains from his policy of negotiations with Israel or he will lose support for that policy.