Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to face police questioning yesterday about a scandal which critics say he had hoped to wipe off Israeli front pages when he announced a shock plan to evacuate Jewish settlers from Gaza.
A businessman friend was charged last month with trying to bribe Sharon in the 1990s and prosecutors have said they should decide within months whether to indict the prime minister too -- a move many analysts believe would force him from office.
Commentators say the case could weaken the former general's hand in any talks with the Palestinians, while critics suggest the announcement this week of his plan to get settlers out of the Gaza Strip might aim to divert attention.
Police sources said Sharon would be questioned about the so-called "Greek Island Affair" but gave no further details. Israeli media said questioning would take place at the prime minister's official residence in Jerusalem.
Sharon, 75, denies any wrongdoing in a string of corruption scandals that have failed to dent popularity he has won for tough measures to break a three-year-old Palestinian uprising.
Few analysts expected a dramatic development in the case yesterday.
Sharon has rejected opposition calls to resign over the affair and vowed to stay in office at least until the next election in 2007.
On Wednesday, Sharon said he was prepared to hold a referendum before carrying out his plans to dismantle 17 of the 21 Jewish enclaves in Gaza where 7,500 Jews live amid 1.3 million Palestinians.
Sharon was quoted as saying that the Gaza plan was presented not "because of, but despite" the probe in comments reported by the Ynet Web site of the top-selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
Boosting Sharon from the political right, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz praised the plan.
"Evacuating the Strip promises to afford Israel's citizens greater security than they have today," the former military chief of staff told Yedioth yesterday.
In Washington, a US official said US Secretary of State Colin Powell was scheduled to meet Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday for talks on Israeli plans to close Gaza settlements as well as the tattered US "road map" peace plan and the Palestinians' failure to crack down on violence.
Police questioned Sharon for seven hours last October over the scandal for which a prominent property developer and stalwart of the prime minister's ruling Likud party was charged last month. David Appel has asserted his innocence.
Prosecutors said Appel hired Sharon's son Gilad in 1999 and paid him large sums to persuade his father, then foreign minister, to promote real estate deals, including a resort on a Greek island.
The indictment against Appel did not cite any evidence that Sharon knowingly accepted political favors.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan praised the plan on Wednesday as "a first essential step."
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS