Israeli opposition demands Sharon resign

Israeli opposition leaders demanded today that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon step down, following media reports that the state attorney is recommending he be indicted for bribe-taking.

However, the final decision on whether to indict is up to the attorney general, not the state attorney.

Sharon’s aides and the state attorney’s office had no comment.

Legal analysts said State Attorney Edna Arbel’s reported recommendation carries great weight, but that there is no legal reason for Sharon to step down before an indictment is handed down.

Some analysts said that while under a cloud of indictment, Sharon could try to speed up his plan to withdraw from parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The proposed pullback is widely supported by the Israeli public.

Israeli media reported yesterday that Arbel has written a draft of her opinion regarding an indictment and was planning to hand it to Attorney General Meni Mazuz in a day or two. Mazuz, the reports said, will make his decision in the coming month.

“In the end, the attorney general won’t be able to ignore the state attorney’s opinion,” Ofir Pines-Paz, a leading lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party, told Israel Army Radio.

“The Prime Minister has to suspend himself until the attorney general’s final decision is made.”

Yossi Beilin, a leader of the dovish opposition party Yahad, also urged Sharon to step down.

Sharon has been plagued by a slew of corruption scandals since taking office in 2001.

The focus of this investigation is the so-called “Greek Island Affair.”

Israeli businessman David Appel was indicted in January for allegedly bribing Sharon to promote a tourism project in Greece and to help rezone urban land in Tel Aviv, before and after Sharon was elected Prime Minister.

In 1999, when Appel was promoting his tourism project in Greece, Sharon was foreign minister.

Sharon’s son, Gilad, was allegedly paid large sums of money so his father would use his influence to push the project forward. The project failed, as did the one near Tel Aviv.

Cabinet minister Uzi Landau called for a thorough investigation and prosecution of whoever leaked Arbel’s recommendation to the media.

“I think we all have to wonder whether there was not an attempt to pressure the attorney general,” Landau, a hawkish member of Sharon’s Likud Party, told Israel Radio.