Israel Breaks Off Tourism Talks With Pat Robertson

January 11, 2006

Israel Breaks Off Tourism Talks With Pat Robertson
By GREG MYRE

JERUSALEM, Jan. 11 - Israel said today it was breaking off negotiations on a tourism project with the evangelical leader, Pat Robertson, in response to his remarks suggesting that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution.

"We cannot accept these statements, and we will not sign any contracts with Mr. Robertson," a spokesman for Israel's Tourism Ministry, Ido Hartuv, said.

Israel had been negotiating with a group of American evangelicals, including by Mr. Robertson, on a large Christian pilgrimage and tourism center in the hills near the Sea of Galilee, where the Bible says Jesus lived and preached.

Under the proposal, Israel planned to provide at least 35 acres for the Christian Heritage Center and the American evangelicals intended to raise about $50 million for its construction. A theme park, an auditorium and an outdoor theater were part of the plan, reports said.

Israel believes the project would draw large numbers of Christian tourists from around the world and create thousands of jobs in a thinly populated region that the government has long struggled to develop.

But Mr. Robertson upset many Israelis when he suggested that Mr. Sharon's devastating stroke, which he suffered Jan. 4, was divine punishment for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip last summer.

"God considers this land to be his," Mr. Robertson said on Jan. 5 on his "700 Club" television program. "For any prime minister of Israel who decides he will carve it up and give it away, God said, 'No, this is mine.' "

"I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course," the evangelist added.

Mr. Robertson also went on to say that Mr. Sharon is a "very likable person and I am sad to see him in this condition."

Christian evangelicals are strong supporters of Israel, and in recent years they have formed alliances with a variety of Israeli groups, particularly those opposed to any territorial concessions to the Palestinians. Israel has generally welcomed the political and financial support despite the theological differences.

"Evangelicals are the best friends of Israel and they are very, very welcome here," Mr. Hartuv said.

The discussions on the tourism project were in an advanced stage, though contracts had not yet been signed, Mr. Hartuv said. Israel will continue to pursue the project, he said, adding that "other leaders of the evangelical community are most welcome to do business with us."

Meanwhile, Mr. Sharon's condition improved slightly today, according to a statement by Jerusalem's Hadassah-Ein Kerem Hospital.

"We are pleased that there are small phases of development in the prime minister's condition," Dr. Yair Birenboim, a senior official at the hospital, told Army Radio.

Doctors have been reducing the level of anesthetic since Monday, with the intention of gradually bringing Mr. Sharon out of his medically induced coma. The prime minister remained lightly sedated today, the statement said.

Mr. Sharon, 77, is out of immediate danger, the doctors say, although they cannot yet assess how much damage he may have suffered.

The campaign for Israel's March 28 national elections have effectively been on hold since the prime minister's stroke a week ago. But the politicking has begun to pick up again.

A poll published today in Israel's Haaretz newspaper found that Mr. Sharon's recently established Kadima party has gained support in the past week despite the almost universal assumption that Mr. Sharon will not return to political life.

Several polls before and just after Mr. Sharon's stroke indicated that Kadima would win about 40 of the 120 seats in Parliament. Today's survey found that his a centrist party would take 44 seats.

Its closest rival, the left-leaning Labor Party, would get 16 seats, and the right-wing Likud party would take 13. The poll questioned 640 voters, but did not provide a margin of error.

In the West Bank, Israeli security forces scuffled in the rain and mud with some 300 Jewish settlers who tried to prevent the dismantling of an unauthorized settlement outpost south of Jerusalem.

The security forces eventually used tear gas to force out protesters who barricaded themselves inside one recently built home at the outpost, near the formal settlement of Neve Daniel. Six protesters were arrested, the police said.

Israel has pledged to remove the West Bank outposts. While it has taken down some, dozens remain, according to monitoring groups.

New York Times