The US Christian evangelical and broadcaster Pat Robertson has sent a letter of apology to the son of Ariel Sharon after suggesting that the Israeli prime minister’s massive stroke was divine punishment for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip.

|PIC1|Christian leaders joined with President Bush and Israeli officials in expressing their condemnation of Robertson’s comments.

Israeli officials have since cancelled plans to include the American evangelist in the development of new Christian heritage centre on the Sea of Galilee.

Robertson apologised for his comments about Ariel Sharon in a letter dated Wednesday and marked for hand delivery to Sharon’s son, Omri, in which he called the Israeli prime minister a “kind, gracious and gentle” who was “carrying an almost insurmountable burden of making decisions for his nation,” reports AP.

“My zeal, my love of Israel and my concern for the future safety of your nation led me to make remarks which I can now view in retrospect as inappropriate and insensitive in light of a national grief experienced because of your father's illness," the letter said.

"I ask your forgiveness and the forgiveness of the people of Israel," Robertson wrote.

The US evangelist suggested on 5th January, the day after the 77-year-old prime minister suffered a devastating stroke, that he was being punished for his decision to withdraw Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip in summer 2005.

|QUOTE|Rami, Levi, director of marketing for Israel’s tourism ministry, told the AP, however, that the government remains “outraged” by Robertson’s remarks despite his apology.

Abraham Hirchson, Israel’s tourism minister, said Wednesday that plans for the Holy Land heritage park would go ahead without Robertson’s help.

“But, of course, we continue full engines ahead to construct it because the Christian community around the world — the evangelical community — are friends," said Levi, who is responsible for coordinating tourism contacts between Israeli groups and other faiths around the world.

The provisional name for the park, which will go ahead without Robertson, is the Galilee World Heritage Park which will cover nearly 50 hectares (125 acres) north-east of the Mount of the Beatitudes where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and Capernaum which is known as the town of Jesus in the Bible.

The plans for the Park include a garden and nature park, an auditorium, a Holy Land exhibition, outdoor amphitheatres, information centre and a media studio.