Katsav signals 'business as usual' amid succession battle

President Moshe Katsav, beset by possible indictments on a range of charges including rape, sought to signal "business as usual" on Sunday, with a scheduled appearance at a memorial ceremony for former cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi, assassinated five years ago by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The race for a successor to Katsav has already heated up, however, with four prospective candidates jockeying for support among the major political parties.

Katsav, who has denied all wrongdoing, has turned aside calls that he step down in the face of the allegations. Should he do so, however, the battle for his succession will already be well underway, with Shimon Peres of Labor, Reuven Rivlin of the Likud, Collette Avital of Labor, and Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau all expected to contend.

Peres, then of Labor, was widely expected to win the presidency in a Knesset vote in 2000. But after winning the support of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, the Likud candidate, Katsav, shocked the parliament by securing 63 votes in the 120-seat house.

Avital said Sunday that she understood from Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz, that he planned to support her and not Shimon Peres for the presidency.

Katsav has tried to maintain his presidential schedule of ceremonial functions, although he has absented himself from highly controversial appearances.

On Monday, he plans to attend a ballet performance to mark 15 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and Russia.