Olmert asserts innocence as graft trial set to begin

One day before the start of a corruption trial against Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister told the BBC that he was "absolutely certain" that he would not be convicted.

"Someone has to prove that I did something wrong, and I don't think that they will be able to do it," Olmert said in an interview set to air on Monday in the U.K. on the BBC News Channel. He scoffed at the possibility that he could end up in prison.

The former premier was indicted on charges ranging from fraud, breach of trust, forging of corporate documents, and failure to report income. Olmert will not face charges of bribery, as the police had recommended to prosecutors.

A senior attorney told Haaretz that Olmert's defense could cost between $600,000 to $800,000 dollars, which is considered low, but Olmert's prominence leads to exposure for the attorneys that is a factor in charging less for their services.

In his interview with the BBC, Olmert also touched on other topics, saying among other things that as prime minister, he had gone further than any other Israeli leader in a peace deal he offered the Palestinians.

The proposal gave Palestinians 94% of the West Bank, control of Arab areas of East Jerusalem and a symbolic return of some refugees, he said.

He said further that he had offered a land swap as compensation for the settlement blocs, which were to remain under Israeli authority in a peace agreement. "Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods would be with the Palestinians," he said, and those areas could become the capital of their state.

Under Olmert's plan, Jerusalem's "Holy Basin" - which includes Jewish and Muslim holy sites - was to be subject to the joint authority of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Palestinians, the U.S. and Israel.

Several thousand Palestinian refugees would also be allowed to return to Israel, even though he emphasized that this stipulation addressed a humanitarian issue and not the much debated Palestinian right of return.

Olmert stressed that the Palestinians had made a "dramatic mistake" in refusing his plan. The former prime minister glossed over the fact that at the time he had offered his plan to the Palestinians, his diplomatic standing had weakened due to the growing corruption suspicions against him, and that his coalition depended upon a party that vehemently refused to entertain the possibility of any negotiations on the future of Jerusalem.

"Had the peace offer been accepted by the Palestinians... I can tell that the top leaders in the US would have signed it on the spot," he said. "The outcome of the elections would have been entirely different," he insisted.