by Charly Wegman
JERUSALEM, Aug 29 (AFP) - Israel flatly denied Sunday deeply embarrassing allegations that one of its agents had spied on the United States by passing on top-secret Pentagon intelligence.
"We have no involvement in these allegations," a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon`s office told AFP.
"It is an internal issue in the United States which is running out of steam anyway.
"Israel has not used an agent to spy on the United States, the country which is its best ally."
US authorities have confirmed that they are investigating an aide to a senior Pentagon official who allegedly passed secrets to Israel with the help of employees of a powerful pro-Israel lobby.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation believes the man passed classified White House policy documents on Iran to Israel and received no money, but acted out of ideological support for the Jewish state, said a top US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The probe targets an individual in the office of Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Douglas Feith, the third most senior official at the Pentagon.
The Washington Post on Saturday identified the man as one Larry Franklin, described as a desk officer in the Pentagon`s Near East and South Asia Bureau.
Ehud Yatom, an MP for Sharon`s Likud party and a member of the parliamentary sub-committee which scrutinises the activities of the security services, rejected any involvement by Franklin.
"I have never heard any talk about him and Israel has no need for recourse to such agents," he told public radio Sunday.
Officials in Washington said the investigation was part of a broader, two-year FBI probe of the handling of highly classified material by civilians working at the Pentagon.
Israel pledged not to spy on the United States after the case of Jonathan Pollard, an intelligence analyst for the US navy, who passed on thousands of secret documents in the 18 months before his arrest in November 1985.
Pollard was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987, but Israel only admitted that he was one of its spies 11 years later.
Sharon is desperate to avoid falling out with the US administration which has given its enthusiastic backing to his plans to pull settlers and troops out of the Gaza Strip while at the same time reinforcing its hold over settlements in the West Bank.
The Gaza pullout was expected to feature heavily in talks later this week in Egypt during a visit by Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei.
Sources within Qorei`s office told AFP that the premier was expected to leave for Cairo later Sunday or on Monday.
Although no firm timetable for his visit has been unveiled, Palestinian officials said that Qorei was likely to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who is President Hosni Mubarak`s pointman on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"We always coordinate and discuss with our Egyptian brothers and this is part of our continued coordination with them," Qorei told reporters after a meeting of his cabinet.
Qorei failed to persuade militant groups such as Hamas to agree a halt to their campaign of attacks against Israel in talks hosted by Cairo late last year but efforts have continued since to reach a new agreement.
Egypt, keen to prevent chaos developing in neighbouring Gaza after next year`s promised Israeli pullout, has pledged to help train Palestinian security services.
In events on the ground in Gaza, a 24-year-old Palestinian militant was shot dead by Israeli soldiers as he was seen approaching a border crossing into Israel.
Palestinian medics confirmed that the army had handed over the body of Solama al-Sawakra, a member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine`s (PFLP) military wing, after he had been shot near the Karni border crossing.
An Israeli military source said that forces had opened fire on three Palestinians seen crawling towards the Karni crossing in the early morning. One had been hit but the other two had fled, the source added.
A Kalashnikov assault rifle and explosives belt had been recovered from the body of the man, who was wearing a bullet-proof jacket.
The latest death brings the overall toll since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, to 4,250, including 3,252 Palestinians and 927 Israelis.