Israeli Official Says Papers Back Sharon

Secret papers contain no evidence to show that former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon discussed the need for revenge with Christian Falangists who were blamed for the 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinians in West Beirut, an Israeli ex-chief justice said in material released Monday.

The findings appear to be a blow to Time magazine’s defense against Sharon’s $50-million libel suit, which he filed after Time reported that he had discussed revenge. The trial is drawing to a close in U.S. District Court in New York.

However, Time said former Supreme Court President Yitzhak Kahan’s review of the papers was incomplete. The papers, which Time said its story was based on, are part of a report on the massacre and prepared by an Israeli commission, headed by Kahan.

A Justice Ministry statement distributed by the government press office here said a secret appendix as well as other documents were reviewed by Kahan and by Sharon’s lawyer, Dov Weisglass, and Chaim Zadok, an attorney for Time magazine.

Sharon, now trade and industry minister in the government of Prime Minister Shimon Peres, left for New York on Monday. He told reporters he hoped the secret documents “will help me prove, as I’ve always claimed, that Time lied. I hope this will teach them never again to dare libel me, the state of Israel or the Jewish people.”

However, in New York, Time Inc. said the review was insufficient. In a statement, it said it was denied access to “potentially crucial information” related to the document that the magazine said could support its story.

Time spokesman Michael Luftman said Kahan reviewed only direct testimony to the panel, not certain statements and other materials obtained by staff investigators that were used to draft the report.

“Time Inc. objects strenuously to the limitations imposed in yesterday’s examination of documents at the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem,” Luftman said.

U.S. District Judge Abraham Sofaer in Manhattan scheduled a conference with lawyers for Sharon and Time today as to whether the new information is admissible. The defense already has rested its case, and the jury is scheduled to return to the courtroom Wednesday to hear closing arguments.

In light of Time’s objections, Luftman said it was “logical” to assume that Time’s attorneys will argue in court that Kahan’s written review of the documents should not be admitted as evidence.

Time reported that Sharon discussed the need to avenge the death of then-Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel in a conversation with the Gemayel family on Sept. 15, 1982. Bashir was the brother of Amin Gemayel, who is now president of Lebanon.

According to Time, the conversation took place the day before Israeli-backed Christian Falangist militiamen massacred hundreds of civilians in two West Beirut refugee camps, and it said information on the conversation was in the secret parts of the report issued by the Kahan Commission.

The Israeli government allowed Kahan to give limited answers to three questions submitted by the court pertaining to whether Sharon discussed or condoned taking revenge for Bashir’s death. In each case, Kahan said there was not.

Even if the secret appendix does not support Time’s story, Time has argued that its story is substantially true.