Ariel Sharon Quotations

I am 73 years old. I've seen everything. I've met the kings, the queens, the presidents, I've been around the world. I have one thing that I would like to do: to try to reach peace.

I was born on a farm. My strength has nothing to do with political apparatus. I get my strength from nature, from flowers.

The sad and horrible conclusion is that no one cared that Jews were being murdered... This is the Jewish lesson of the Holocaust and this is the lesson which Auschwitz taught us.

Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial.

But there's one thing we are not going to compromise at all: when it comes to security of Israeli citizens and the State of Israel, there are not going to be any compromises - not now and not in the future.

If I have to advise our brothers in France, I'll tell them one thing - move to Israel, as early as possible. I say that to Jews all around the world, but there I think it's a must and they have to move immediately.

Netanyahu is pressured easily, gets into a panic, and loses his senses... to run a country like Israel a leader needs to have reason and judgment and nerves of steel, two traits he does not have.

There is no good terror and bad terror. Terror is terror. There's not terror that you can accept and terror that you cannot accept. Terror is terror. Murder is murder.

The strength that I have comes from irrigating the citrus plantation, ploughing in the vineyard, guarding the melon fields at night. I believe that's what gave me the strength.

To our Palestinian neighbours, I assure you that we have a genuine intention to respect your right to live independently and in dignity. I have already said that Israel has no desire to continue to govern over you and control your fate.

Myself, first of all, I am a Jew. And that is the most important thing for me.

I'm a friend of Colin Powell. We talk quite often.

I am the last person who would divide Jerusalem. I have said this many times. I don't plan to discuss any division of Jerusalem.

Both during the elections and as Prime Minister, I have repeatedly and publicly said that I support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel.

Iran, Libya and Syria are irresponsible states, which must be disarmed of weapons of mass destruction, and a successful American move in Iraq as a model will make that easier to achieve.

As a Jew, it is my historic responsibility to defend the Jewish people. I feel this responsibility for the survival of the Jewish people. We're not going to accept any decision by anybody else about security of the State of Israel. It is our role and only our role.

I cannot say that the attitude of the United Nations always is for the Israeli attitude. Israel, I think, has been under severe attacks by members of the United Nations many times.

If there will be a serious Palestinian prime minister who makes a 100 percent effort to end terrorism, then we can have peace. Each side has to take steps. If terror continues, there will not be an independent Palestinian state. Israel will not accept it, if terror continues.

There is no bullet-proof vest in my size.

I don't think I have accomplished what I still have to accomplish. There is one thing that I would like to do, and that's to bring security and peace to the Jewish people.

Israel has many hopes, and faces extreme dangers. The most prominent danger is Iran, which is making every effort to acquire nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and establishing an enormous terror network together with Syria in Lebanon.

Legitimate steps of self-defence which Israel takes in its war against Palestinian terror - actions which any sovereign state is obligated to undertake to ensure the security of its citizens - are presented by those who hate Israel as aggressive, Nazi-like steps.

My strength never came from political echelons, it came from the family. And from the fields and the lands and the flowers and everything I see there. My strength came from there.

We do not build new Jewish communities in Samaria, Judea and Gaza. The United States has never accepted our building of communities or of the fence. Yet, I've managed to develop relations between Israel and the United States even though President Bush never supported settlements.

As one who participated in all the wars of the state of Israel, I saw the horror of wars. I saw the fear of wars. I saw my best friends being killed in battles. I was seriously injured twice.

I would like to be on the farm. To ride the horses. To watch the cattle, and the plantations, and the beautiful vegetables that my sons are growing there. I would like it. I am one of those who do not have to worry about what I am doing later. I love the fields.

Like all Israelis, I yearn for peace. I see the utmost importance in taking all possible steps that will lead to a solution of the conflict with the Palestinians.

The ongoing conflict between us has caused heavy suffering to both peoples. The future can and must be different. Both our peoples are destined to live together side by side, on this small piece of land. This reality we cannot change.

We don't have any intention whatsoever to use military force to solve the Palestinian problem. But when it comes to terror - when it comes to terror, I believe that military - the right military steps is a very, very complicated kind of warfare, where I make every effort not to escalate the situation.

As long as I'm needed. I'll be ready to serve. I look forward with optimism. We need the Jews here. Move to Israel! Move to Israel!

For me, peace should provide security to the Jewish people.

One must remember that the Jews have one, tiny country, the only place they have the right and capability to defend themselves by themselves. And it is our duty and my responsibility to see that we will never compromise about that.

A lie should be tried in a place where it will attract the attention of the world.

We have no desire to permanently rule over millions of Palestinians, who double their numbers every generation. Israel, which wishes to be an exemplary democracy, will not be able to bear such a reality over time. The Disengagement Plan presents the possibility of opening a gate to a different reality.

Israel is a wonderful country. It's a beautiful country. It is ours. But it is a country with 10,000 problems that we have to solve and deal.

We extend our hand towards peace. Our people are committed to peace. We know that peace entails painful compromise for both sides.

We have evidence that Iran makes a reactor to possess nuclear weapons.

To the citizens of Israel, I say: we have passed difficult years, faced the most painful experiences and overcame them. The future lies before us. We are required to take difficult and controversial steps, but we must not miss the opportunity to try to achieve what we have wished for, for so many years: security, tranquillity and peace.

It is impossible to have a Jewish, democratic state and at the same time to control all of Eretz Israel. If we insist on fulfilling the dream in its entirety, we are liable to lose it all. Everything. That is where the extremist path takes us.

That is all that we want, what people want, what people want in New York, in Washington, in Pittsburgh, in any other place in the United States or in Europe. People want to live peacefully. That's what we want.

All together, we know for many years that terror is the most dangerous thing for local, regional and international stability.

On April 19 1943, the Bermuda conference gathered, with the participation of representatives from Britain and the United States, in order to discuss saving the Jews of Europe. In fact, the participants did everything in their power to avoid dealing with the problem.

When I was born here on one of the farms in Israel, my childhood, I never thought for one day that we will not be living together with Arabs.

We are together with the British and Americans because one should fight terror. But we are not going to pay the price for it by endangering Israel and its citizens.

Close to 80 percent of all terrorist activity in Samaria was directed and financed either by Hizbullah or the Iranians. Iran continues to increase its involvement in terror attacks inside Israel, particularly through a small but radical minority of Israeli Arabs which Iran supports and directs.

And Israel, being a tiny, small country, of course has interest to strengthen - we have interest to strengthen our relations with other countries, mostly countries that were hostile for many, many years.

Peace should provide security. It should be durable. I'm ready to go far in making painful concessions. But there is one thing I will never make any concessions on and that's the security of the Israeli citizens and the very existence of the state of Israel. The Palestinians are losing time.

Only Israeli political initiative will retain our strong grasp of the large settlement blocs and security areas,

We had a very constructive and frank discussion of strategic issues in the interests of the United States and Israel,

Now there is a real chance that new Palestinian leaders will rise -- those who will be elected -- who will truly abandon the path of terror and instead will advance a strategy of reconciliation and negotiation without violence, terror and hatred,

Now they're really disillusioned with him because he is doing the opposite. They feel quite neglected because the state used to nourish them. But at the end of the day, they are a small hard-core.

No previous government was successful in obtaining such commitments from the American administration,

Netanyahu feels the heat, ... In any stressful situation he immediately panics and loses his cool.

Netanyahu is pressured easily, gets into a panic, and loses his senses, ... to run a country like Israel a leader needs to have reason and judgment and nerves of steel, two traits he does not have.

I have begun, with my colleagues, setting up a new party,

I have given an order to plan for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip.

If they don't take control of what is going on in Gaza, there is doubt over the political future,

Look, the Jews are not easy people. Maybe that's the reason they managed to exist, I would say, for thousands of years.

There are two demands that are under the direct control of the new leadership.

Mr. Prime Minister, I ask you to not let this infuriating act detract from efforts to bring about a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict,

Since then, I have worked tirelessly in all my meetings with Egyptians and others in order to do so,

make us desperate, to make us lose hope, to make us lose the national vision that leads us.

shares in the grief of the U.S. administration and expresses its condolences to the American people.

Sharon wants to maintain the current political status quo so as to accomplish his objectives out of the pullout from Gaza, including boosting settlement construction, and completing the apartheid, separation wall in the West Bank, particularly around the occupied city of Jerusalem.

So long as there is terror, there will be no political process, ... Political process cannot coincide with terror. That's why we expect the Palestinian Authority to wage true, genuine struggle against terrorism.

Security for the Israeli people will lead to measures that will create new and better reality for the Palestinian population.

sends a deadly message that encourages terror on the one hand and prevents countries from protecting themselves against it on the other.

The Prime Minister's Office and the Defense Ministry have no knowledge whatsoever of an alleged approval to build 3,000 dwelling units in Ariel and we really don't know where this number comes from,

The prime minister views with great severity the Jewish terrorist actions directed against innocent Palestinians out of the warped thought that out of this action the disengagement could be brought to a halt.

has no business here, he has never had any, and I don't think he ever will have.

Four weeks after the ceasefire, negotiations will start to find a solution to the situation and this will give hope that there will be stability,

foundation and cornerstone for the great opportunities which lie before us.

I am aware that peace requires painful compromises. Any agreements will be based on security,

I don't think it will affect my functioning.

Give the man a chance, ... will be a strong proponent for peace.

I don't think it would be suitable (to request aid) at this time so we will wait a while.

I believe that I'll be presenting a plan, a serious plan, maybe the most serious that has been presented by now -- how to reach peace in the Middle East, how to reach peace between us and the Palestinians,

I believe that we can live together with the Palestinians, ... I came here to the holiest place of the Jewish people in order to see what happens here and really to have the feeling of how we need to move forward. There was no provocation here.

I believe that the conditions have been created that will allow us and the Palestinians to reach a historic breakthrough.

I appeal to all those involved in the investigation... to do whatever is necessary to hasten the investigation and to take all necessary steps so that such events do not recur,

I appeal to those who still have not: We are in the last minute. You must apply now and not delay, ... Do not be led to believe that the disengagement will not be implemented. The disengagement will be implemented.

have become the most important agents of change in the Middle Eastern arena.

have to convene a Cabinet meeting and have to decide what to do.

We must conduct elections so that 2006 will not be a lost year regarding the political and economic process, and the passing of the budget, ... in this complicated situation that we are in.

I am fine. I guess I should have taken a few days off. There are people who are already interested in a replacement? Well, maybe it's too soon. I'm still here, no?

I am glad that we are working together in order to achieve peace in the region,

He went higher than anyone else and made his dream come true.

He who rises up to kill us, we will pre-empt it and kill him first.

The Palestinian Authority is responsible for terror, and we hold it responsible also for the criminal act that happened today,

The Palestinians can then also live in dignity and freedom in an independent state, and, together with us, enjoy good neighborly relations, while cooperating for the good of both our peoples.

The Palestinians will always be our neighbors. We respect them and don't aspire to rule over them. They also deserve freedom and a sovereign national entity in their own country,

The Palestinians will always be our neighbors. We respect them and have no aspiration to rule over them,

There are no restrictions on the use of any measure in order to strike at the terrorists, ... This phenomenon must be stopped.

undermine the character of the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

If, in November, Sharon will see that he can't pass anything, that he is losing every no-confidence vote, that the Knesset is paralyzed and he cannot continue, he could decide to disperse the Knesset,

I feel the pain of the family and I wish that the wounded will heal, ... Israel will not yield and will continue fighting terror until it is destroyed just like we are fighting it now.

He must start to eliminate the terrorist organizations,

There is no choice but to start formally to try to widen the coalition with the Labor and the ultra-Orthodox,

There is a famous saying, 'It's hard to be a Jew,' ... It's also hard to be a Palestinian. I know that. I would like to take all those steps, but first of all it should be quiet.

The people clearly opted for my plan, ... Political forces must follow the wishes of the electorate.