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."
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