Sharon too big for his jacket
2004-10-14 22:47
Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Thursday he is not wearing a flak jacket, despite potential threats on his life, because he could not find one large enough, public radio said.
"There is none that fits my size," the overweight premier was quoted as saying after someone in his entourage asked him why he was not wearing a bullet-proof vest.
Sharon also minimised the risk of extremist Jews attempting to harm or kill him in protest at his plan to dismantle Jewish settlements next year, the radio said.
"I'm not afraid because I've seen a lot during my long military carrier," he said as Israel was preparing to commemorate the 1995 assassination of premier Yitzhak Rabin by an extremist Jew for having signed the 1993 Oslo peace accord with the Palestinians.
Sharon has sparked outrage among settlers and Israel's ultra-nationalist fringe for his plan to dismantle all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and another four on the northern West Bank next spring.
- AFP