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"It's
his duty to step down," Ran Cohen
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, January 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Only hours
after managing to muffle criticism of his controversial plan for
'disengagement' from the Palestinians in a speech to parliament, Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Tuesday, January 13, came under new pressure
over fresh corruption allegations.
Sharon
is facing demands for resignation from opposition MPs after fresh
accusations by one of his former advisers over a campaign financing
scandal, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Late
on Monday, January 12, Israeli private television aired the recording of
a conversation leaked by a former Sharon aide indicating that the
premier lied
when he denied any personal involvement in the fraudulent funding of one
of his campaigns.
The
scandal centers around a 1.5-million-dollar loan from South African
businessman Cyril Kern that was reportedly used by Sharon to refund
contributions to his 1999 campaign for the Likud leadership after they
were deemed irregular.
"It's
his duty to step down," said Ran Cohen, a parliament member from
the left-wing Meretz party.
"It's
unacceptable that all this mud is operating above us, at the head of our
government... but the Prime Minister remains in his seat," he told
the Israeli army radio.
Labor
MP Ofer Pines also called on Sharon to immediately tender his
resignation.
"This
is proof that Sharon is up to his ears in the Cyril Kern affair,"
he was quoted as saying by the army broadcast.
"The
Prime Minister bought his rule with money and now it is clear that the
version he told the state investigator was a lie and doesn't hold water.
"
Shrewd
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Sharon
won backing for his controversial unilateral moves against the
Palestinians
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Sharon
had secured approval for his so-called “disengagement
plan” after a stormy session of the Knesset late Monday but
observers noted that the omissions from his address spoke louder than
its content.
While
he again threatened unilateral measures outside the framework of the
bilateral roadmap
for peace plan, there was no mention of uprooting Jewish settlements
which prompted a mass demonstration Sunday featuring several right-wing
ministers from his coalition cabinet, nor of a Palestinian state.
"We
have to prepare ourselves for the possibility the Palestinians will
continue to reject the hand of peace and we will have to take a series
of measures to bring the maximum levels of security to the citizens of
Israel and reduce to a minimum the friction with the Palestinians,"
Sharon told lawmakers.
He
claimed the Palestinians had failed so far to meet their commitments in
the internationally-drafted blueprint - which has run into a brick wall
with high-level contacts frozen for nearly five months.
"The
Palestinians have not taken any step to fight terrorism," Sharon
alleged, threatening Israel would implement unilateral measures in a few
months time.
Such
measures would remain in force until the Palestinians "find among
themselves the leadership needed in order to resume talks", he said
amid fierce heckling, largely from the Arab-Israeli legislators.
Sharon
has previously made clear that his unilateral measures would involve the
dismantling of some settlements, although he has yet to flesh out
further details.
"A
day after the massive pro-settlement rally in Tel Aviv, Sharon was
careful to say nothing that would disturb the pro-settlement parties in
his coalition," commented the English-language Jerusalem Post.
"He
did not say anything about removing settlements, redeploying troops,
about settlement freezes, or dismantling unauthorized outposts. No talk
of two states living side by side or even of painful compromises. "
The
mass-selling Yediot Aharonot daily said that Sharon's speech
"had quickly restored him as the right wing's darling".
"A
smile spread across the faces of the opponents of settlement removal.
Sharon spared them the need to choose between political expedience and
the imperatives of their ideological conscience".
