Defiant Sharon refuses to quit

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remained defiant today and said he will not quit despite corruption allegations and the possibility that he might be indicted in coming weeks.

“I am not about to resign. I emphasise, I am not about to resign. I am busy with work from morning to night, and I do not intend to make time for issues that are under investigation,” he said.

Justice Ministry officials said they decide in the coming weeks or months whether to indict the prime minister for allegedly accepting bribes of €590,000 after a property developer was charged with giving him the money.

Sharon, 75, said the burgeoning scandal would not deflect his attention from what he considers to be more pressing issues.

“There are many issues that I am dealing with,” Sharon told Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, referring, among other things, to a forthcoming hearing at the world court in The Hague on the legality of the separation barrier Israel is building in the West Bank.

An Israeli court yesterday indicted property developer David Appel for allegedly paying €590,000 in bribes to Sharon. The indictment raises the chances that Sharon will be indicted as well.

An opinion poll today found that 49% of Israelis think the prime minister should resign or suspend himself now, 38% said she should continue his job.

The focus of the scandal is widely known as the Greek Island Affair – in which Sharon’s son Gilad allegedly received large sums from Appel, an activist in Sharon’s Likud Party who was trying to promote a massive tourism project in Greece in 1999. Sharon was then foreign minister.

Opposition politicians urged Sharon to resign now, and a leadership struggle in the ruling Likud Party already was brewing.

Sharon’s spokesman, Assaf Shariv, said: ”I can guarantee there will not be an indictment.”

While there is precedent to Israeli politicians resigning as a result of scandal, there have also been cases where despite suspicion, no indictments were handed down, and leaders, despite public criticism, have held on.

A former general, Sharon is considered likely to fight a fierce battle to maintain his leadership.

“He will fight until the last bullet,” said political analyst Hanan Crystal. “But Richard Nixon was a fighter. You cannot fight against everything.”

In order for Sharon to be charged, prosecutors must be convinced that a bribe was accepted with criminal intent. Justice Ministry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they expected to complete an investigation within several months, possibly sooner, and decide on an indictment.

Appel was indicted in the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court for allegedly giving Sharon hundreds of thousands of pounds to promote the Greek Island project, and also to help rezone urban land near Tel Aviv before and during Sharon’s term as prime minister.

Sharon was allegedly asked to use his influence to push forward both projects, although neither came to fruition.

During 1998-99, the indictment said, Appel “gave Ariel Sharon a bribe in recognition of activities connected to the fulfilment of his public positions.”

It said Appel sent a total of €590,000 to Sharon’s family ranch in the Negev desert. Appel also promised his support to Sharon in party primary elections, the indictment said.

The indictment also charged Appel with giving a bribe to Vice Premier Ehud Olmert to promote the Greek project, when Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem in the late 1990s.

The indictment said Gilad Sharon, while hired as a consultant in the Greek project, served as a middleman in accepting the bribes. “Appel and Gilad agreed to this arrangement despite the fact that the defendant knew that Gilad had no relevant professional qualifications,” it said.

Appel’s lawyer, Moshe Israel, denied the charges. “There is no doubt he is innocent,” he said.

Still, the indictment further complicated Sharon’s legal problems. He is also being investigated for alleged involvement in illegal campaign financing.

If Sharon is charged, he would be forced to suspend himself from office while the case is pending.

But the prime minister could also face pressure from the public and within his own party to step down before that.

“For opponents in his party, this indictment is like a wind in their sails that will set in motion political and coalition opposition,” said TV political commentator Amnon Abramowitz.

Several Israeli ministers have been forced out of office in recent years due to legal run-ins.

However, lengthy investigations against former prime ministers, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, did not result in indictments.