AP
Sharon Denies Israel Is Spying in U.S.
Date: Tue Sep 7
By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) is denying allegations that a Pentagon (news - web sites) worker stole secrets for Israel, according to a newspaper interview carrying his first public comments on the dispute.
"Israel does not spy in the United States. I say this in the most emphatic way possible," Sharon was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post, which released excerpts of the interview early Wednesday. The full interview is to be published Friday.
On Aug. 28, news reports from Washington said that a Pentagon official funneled classified information about Iran to Israel through AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby. Israel and AIPAC denied the allegations.
In another section of the interview, Sharon indicated that the United States would allow Israel to continue construction in West Bank Jewish settlements within the main blocs Israel plans to keep, even in a peace settlement.
"I don't know if there is a quiet agreement," he said, "but if you ask me if it will be possible to build in the large blocs, I would say yes," he said.
Until recently, the United States denounced all the settlements as "obstacles to peace." After President Bush (news - web sites) said earlier this year that Israel would not have to give up all of the West Bank in a peace deal because of the presence of large settlements, U.S. officials said they would not object to construction inside those settlements.
Palestinians demand that Israel pull out of all of the West Bank and Gaza and dismantle the settlements.
Sharon intends to evacuate all 21 Gaza settlements next year and withdraw from the territory, while strengthening Israel's hold on parts of the West Bank.
The interview is one of a series Sharon is giving to local news media before the Jewish New Year in mid-September.
SOURCE
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