Gilad Sharon, the son of the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, rejected on Friday the publication in the Israel Hayom newspaper, which said his father also planned a broad withdrawal from Judea and Samaria following the disengagement from Gaza.
"A total lie. Ariel Sharon - my father, established all the settlements in Judea and Samaria and did not intend to give up the area not only because it is ours but also because it is too dangerous. Do you think it is possible to keep such a secret for 15 years? You did not even ask for a response," he tweeted.
The comment follows the interview with journalist Nadav Shragai, in which former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, "We had to vote in the government on the disengagement plan from Gaza and the localities in Gush Katif and the northern Gaza Strip.”
"I get a call from Arik [Sharon]. I was in the north, and Arik said to me: 'Listen: I'm thinking of making a change in the entire matter of the disengagement. I will only withdraw from five localities in the Gaza Strip.’ I asked him: ‘What?!’ And Arik told me: ‘I can no longer take it. I’ve had enough,’” added Olmert.
"I came to his farm. His two sons, Omri and Gilad, were also there, and I told him: ‘You cannot surrender here. You, Ariel Sharon, cannot surrender to a group of nobodies. It is not serious. You went for a correct and historic move. Stick to it. If you back down now, there will be more pressure. In two weeks you will come to a faction meeting and the back benches will rise up on you. They smell weakness.’”
“At one point, Gilad said to his father, ‘Ehud is right. It is impossible to surrender here.’ Sharon reportedly listened and was finally convinced. At the same time, he called Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon, and instructed him to withdraw the amended version, and to return the original version of the evacuation of all the settlements of Gush Katif and the northern Gaza Strip."
The article also said that Olmert had informed Sharon that he intended to inform then-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the disengagement in Gaza was "only the preview," and that a similar move was expected in Judea and Samaria.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)