Foto: Ole Walberg (Scanpix)

During a debate in the Israeli national assembly Knesset, Ariel Sharon himself revealed a possible bugging of Juul’s house in the north of Tel Aviv.

According to the Norwegian paper VG, Sharon made accusations against the opposition leader Shimon Peres because he allegedly had secret meetings with the Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie.

Present at the meeting with Quire were allegedly Saeb Erekat, negotiating minister, Terje Rød Larsen, UN’s special delegate, Shimon Peres and two of his advisors.

Described in detail
In order to prove that the meeting indeed took place, Sharon described in detail what happened during the meeting at the Norwegian ambassador’s house. The opposition politicians in Knesset became infuriated and accused Sharon of having used the intelligence service to bug his political opponents in Israel.

«How do you know all this? Was the meeting bugged?» screamed Yossi Sarid from the left wing party Meretz.

Unbelievable
Sharon explained that he had gotten the information from one of the people present on the meeting, but he did not manage to convince the opposition.

«It is unbelievable that the prime minister of a democratic nation would use intelligence information to aid him politically and to create an impression that all meetings with the Palestinian authorities are illegal,” stated Peres according to the Jerusalem Post.

On the other side, Sharon was infuriated by the fact that the Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Quire did not have time to meet him, but did find the time to meet with politicians on Israel’s left wing.

No conclusions
Karsten Klepsvik, press officer at the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Department, did not want to immediately conclude that the Norwegian ambassador’s house was being bugged.

«It is possible to see who goes in and out of the building», Klepsvik said to the paper. «There is a high security level in Israel, so this does not have to mean anything.»

Former Norwegian ambassadors in Tel Aviv have said that they take it for granted that the building in Herzliya is under surveillance.

«I must be allowed to say what I want in my own house», said one Norwegian ambassador some years back as he was studying the sealing for microphones, according to the Norwegian news bureau.