Ariel Sharon

I begin with the basic conviction that Jews and Arabs can live together. I have repeated that at every opportunity, not for journalists and not for popular consumption, but because I have never believed differently or thought differently, from my childhood on. ... I know that we are both inhabitants of the land, and although the state is Jewish, that does not mean that Arabs should not be full citizens in every sense of the word.

I am for lasting peace... United, I believe, we can win the battle for peace. But it must be a different peace, one with full recognition of the rights of the Jews in their one and only land: peace with security for generations and peace with a united Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of the Jewish people in the state of Israel forever.

In Lebanon, there was an agreement not to liquidate Yasser Arafat. In principle, I\'m sorry that we didn\'t liquidate him.

Even today I am willing to volunteer to do the dirty work for Israel, to have everyone hate us, to pull the rug from underneath the feet of the Diaspora Jews, so that they will be forced to run to us crying. Even if it means blowing up one or two synagogues here and there, I don't care.

To the citizens of Israel, I say: We have passed difficult years, faced the most painful experiences and overcome 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.

I have worries, but in difficult times, that is when I am quiet.

No one wants to be beaten, even myself.

I prefer to stay with Likud. I think I have to be in the party I managed to build.

David Ben-Gurion understood that the public\'s trust is given to a leader in order to lead, determine clear goals and make difficult decisions. The fate of the people and the good of the state guided him, not polls, media treatment or measures of prestige.

Israel is an independent country with a large army, and it has the ability to do what it thinks is right.

I have always maintained that the only group I belong to consists of my family, my wife Lily, my mother, my sons Omri and Gilad.

I believe orders should be obeyed, but sometimes you have to think about the orders you get.

Pope John Paul II was a man of peace, a friend of the Jewish nation... and worked for the historic reconciliation between the nations and for the renewal of diplomatic ties between Israel and the Vatican at the end of 1993.

My opinions are aggressive, I admit that. But not my personality. I\'m sociable.

The great question of our day is whether we, the Jewish people of Israel, can find within us the will to survive as a nation.

Political life is like a big wheel: constantly turning. At times you are up, at times down. But always, the wheel keeps moving.

Even the sheep are afraid of me.

Every Jew has the right to ascend onto the Temple Mount.

It was a grave mistake to dismantle the Jewish communities in Sinai.

The fight against terrorism is an international struggle of the free world against the forces of darkness.

The problem is that Abu Mazen signed an agreement with the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

Every leaving of a Jewish community is a most difficult thing.

If cars and buses were attacked daily by petrol bombs or stones for 16 months in Washington, could you imagine it would be tolerated? It would not, because in the name of democracy, to preserve democracy, steps would be taken.

Even a superpower has limits.

I never had a political power base.

We have built cities, developed industry and cultivated agriculture - we have transformed the State of Israel into an example and symbol for many other countries in the world.

Israel is a society governed by the rule of law.

Staying in Likud means wasting time in political squabbles rather than acting on behalf of the good of the country.

I was born in the Land of Israel, the son of pioneers - people who tilled the land and sought no fights - who did not come to Israel to dispossess its residents.

Expressions of disobedience naturally encourage terrorist organizations and motivate them to intensify their actions.