PM Sharon told David Appel: 'The island is in our hands'

"The island is in our hands," Ariel Sharon told real estate developer David Appel during a conversation when the prime minister was still serving as foreign minister in the late 1990s. The comment, which relates to the "Greek Island" project, was uttered in the same conversation in which Appel said to Sharon: "Your son is going to earn a lot of money."

The fact that both these sentences were part of the same conversation, even though they were not really uttered close to one another, is now an important piece of evidence in the case against Sharon in the Greek Island affair. It is also one of the pieces of evidence that convinced the prosecutors who were in charge of the case that Sharon should be indicted.

State Prosecutor Edna Arbel yesterday submitted a draft indictment against the prime minister and his son, Gilad, to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. According to the draft indictment, Sharon accepted a bribe from Appel, via his son, and committed crimes of fraud and breach of trust. Mazuz is expected to decide whether to press charges against Sharon within a month.

While the indictment against Appel, who was charged with bribery, mentions the comments by the real estate entrepreneur with regard to Sharon's son Gilad earning lots of money, the charge sheet does not include Sharon's response, and it was not clear whether the prime minister even responded to Appel's comments.

But Haaretz has learned that Sharon apparently gave his response at another stage in the conversation. In contradiction to the prime minister's claims, he apparently was involved in efforts to promote the Greek Island project, as his comment, "The island is in our hands," seems to indicate.

The state prosecution understands this comment as implied agreement that Sharon apparently provided, or was going to provide, Appel with a quid pro quo. When Sharon was asked about this comment during the police investigation, he claimed he could not remember the exact context in which it was made, and raised the possibility that it had been made jokingly.

The state prosecution, however, has not accepted Sharon's explanation, insisting that the comment cannot be dismissed as an innocent one, especially since it was made during the conversation in which Appel promised money to the prime minister's son. This comment is now part of the body of evidence based on wire tappings and concrete evidence provided by Israel Lands Administration officials.

In addition to Arbel, eight other lawyers in the prosecution who dealt with the case directly or indirectly agreed that Sharon should be indicted. According to the draft indictment, Sharon received bribes from Appel in two ways - assistance from the businessman in the Likud primaries in 1999, and hundreds of thousands of dollars that arrived in the bank account of the Sharons' Negev ranch as a result of the alleged agreement Appel had with Gilad Sharon.

The Greek Island affair ties Sharon to businessman Appel's resort plans at the end of the 1990s, when the back-room Likud kingmaker helped Sharon in the race for the Likud leadership. This was after Sharon as foreign minister allegedly tried to help win Greek government approval for Appel's plan - among other ways, by holding an event in honor of the deputy foreign minister of Greece. Appel is charged with hiring Gilad Sharon and paying him thousands of dollars to act as an adviser, even though Gilad had no training or special knowledge.

Sharon's alleged pay-off also came in two forms: assistance to Appel in promoting the Greek Island project and in the "Ginaton deal," in which the prime minister allegedly agreed to promote Appel's real estate interests in the area of Lod.

	Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arriving at the Knesset yesterday for the weekly cabinet meeting.
	Photo by: Ariel Jerozolimski