President Moshe Katsav declared throughout his police investigation that he was not sexually involved with any of the complainants, "and these things indeed disappeared from the indictment," said Avigdor Feldman, one of Katsav's attorneys, after signing a plea bargain with the prosecution yesterday.

"President Katsav did not lie during his investigation," Feldman said, adding that the confession stemmed solely from Katsav's desire to avoid a lengthy trial on serious charges that could eat up years of his life even if he were ultimately acquitted.

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Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has a different view: Though rape and all other charges involving intercourse were indeed dropped, Mazuz claims that Katsav's confession to sexual harassment and indecent assault under the plea bargain are tantamount to confessions of sexual involvement with the complainants.

But Feldman retorted that hugging one defendant and kissing another - to which Katsav will confess - could easily have been displays of friendly affection rather than sexual acts, as the president claimed all along.

"I told the president: For your sake, for your family's sake, swallow this bitter pill and get back to your life," Feldman said.

Asked whether the complainants had slandered Katsav, Feldman said it is hard to come to any other conclusion when two separate accusations of rape culminated merely in indictments for kissing one woman on her birthday and hugging the other around the waist.

"The president didn't hurt anyone, didn't sleep with anyone. No one would would dream of beginning an investigation on the basis of the current indictment," he said, adding that the prosecution's consent to a suspended sentence - "the minimum possible in such an indictment" - further proved how minor the charges were.

"These are fantastic results for us," said Katsav's other attorney, Zion Amir. "For a full year, the president was facing numerous and grave charges, which received merciless expression in the press. There was unprecedented hostility toward the president. And after a year of his being bludgeoned with the gravest charges possible, the attorney general has decided to erase 95 percent of the indictment."

Katsav's term of office ends in two weeks. However, having promised the High Court of Justice that he would resign once an indictment is filed against him in court, he will keep this promise and not serve out the remaining time, his attorneys said