In addition to his interview with Army Radio today, Prime Minister Sharon also met with correspondents of the Ynet internet site. He told them, "We never planned for Gaza to remain in our hands indefinitely." Just three years ago, however, on April 24, 2002, Sharon said, "Netzarim is the same as Negba and Tel Aviv. Evacuating Netzarim will only encourage terror and increase the pressure on us."
Asked how and why he changed his mind so totally, Sharon said, "It's not me who changed - it's the reality that has changed."
The Prime Minister also told Ynet that the value of settling the Land of Israel no longer applies to Judea and Samaria, but only to the Galilee and the Negev. He said he stills admires the settlement enterprise, but feels that the disengagement plan will help greatly in improving Israel's relations with the U.S.
Sharon has all but given up on all parts of Judea and Samaria except for three areas. He explained that Israel's withdrawal from Gaza would enable Israel to maintain the settlement blocs of Gush Etzion, Ariel and Maaleh Adumim.
Sharon has repeatedly denied that he plans another unilateral disengagement. Instead, he appears to be headed towards giving up most of Judea and Samaria in the framework of an agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
"Has the historic role of the settlers then ended?" he was asked, and answered, "There will still be a need to settle Jews and establish communities in the Negev and the Galilee."
The withdrawal would also ensure Bush's promise that the Arabs would never be able to realize their "right of return" to Israel, Sharon said.
"Even if Sharon suddenly resigns," writes Haggai Segal in B'Sheva, "it will take great efforts by Supreme Providence to erase the signs of the destruction he has wrought. The man agreed to uproot tens of communities in exchange for nothing, built a monstrous separation wall practically along the Green Line, froze settlements more than all the great freezers who came before him, adopted the extreme-left's thesis that Israel is a conqueror, agreed to the European Union's demand that we mark products of Judea and Samaria with a badge of shame, and became the first Israeli Prime Minister to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state."
Despite this, "Sharon continues to enjoy support from his foolish followers among the Likud leadership. They should have finally understood [after the Bush-Sharon meeting in Texas] that the disengagement plan will contribute nothing to the strengthening of the settlement blocs, but rather the opposite. Yet they continue to grasp onto his coattails, as if the disengagement was an end unto itself... Instead of initiating a parliamentary maneuver to immediately depose him, they continue to follow him with heads bowed - all the way to the catastrophe."
Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, a friend of Sharon's but a strong political opponent, agrees with Segal. Speaking at a Likud gathering this week, Rivlin went so far as to say that Sharon should be removed from the Likud. "The Likud is my home, and those who have arrived as guests in my home will not tell me to leave. I say to them: Please, take leave yourselves."
Rivlin bemoaned the fact that Sharon is fooling not only the nation, but also himself. He said he once asked Sharon to explain the logic of the withdrawal, and that Sharon told him that it would bring about a historic American recognition of the settlement blocs, and would neutralize other dangerous diplomatic plans and international pressure.
Rivlin said that these explanations simply do not correspond to reality, and that the Foreign Minister of the European Union told him straight out, "We will not relax our pressure on you under any circumstances. This disengagement is just an advance payment in your total withdrawal from all of Yesha. Afterwards we will demand that you continue withdrawing, and the Gaza disengagement will disprove your claims that it is too hard."
Asked how and why he changed his mind so totally, Sharon said, "It's not me who changed - it's the reality that has changed."
The Prime Minister also told Ynet that the value of settling the Land of Israel no longer applies to Judea and Samaria, but only to the Galilee and the Negev. He said he stills admires the settlement enterprise, but feels that the disengagement plan will help greatly in improving Israel's relations with the U.S.
Sharon has all but given up on all parts of Judea and Samaria except for three areas. He explained that Israel's withdrawal from Gaza would enable Israel to maintain the settlement blocs of Gush Etzion, Ariel and Maaleh Adumim.
Sharon has repeatedly denied that he plans another unilateral disengagement. Instead, he appears to be headed towards giving up most of Judea and Samaria in the framework of an agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
"Has the historic role of the settlers then ended?" he was asked, and answered, "There will still be a need to settle Jews and establish communities in the Negev and the Galilee."
The withdrawal would also ensure Bush's promise that the Arabs would never be able to realize their "right of return" to Israel, Sharon said.
"Even if Sharon suddenly resigns," writes Haggai Segal in B'Sheva, "it will take great efforts by Supreme Providence to erase the signs of the destruction he has wrought. The man agreed to uproot tens of communities in exchange for nothing, built a monstrous separation wall practically along the Green Line, froze settlements more than all the great freezers who came before him, adopted the extreme-left's thesis that Israel is a conqueror, agreed to the European Union's demand that we mark products of Judea and Samaria with a badge of shame, and became the first Israeli Prime Minister to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state."
Despite this, "Sharon continues to enjoy support from his foolish followers among the Likud leadership. They should have finally understood [after the Bush-Sharon meeting in Texas] that the disengagement plan will contribute nothing to the strengthening of the settlement blocs, but rather the opposite. Yet they continue to grasp onto his coattails, as if the disengagement was an end unto itself... Instead of initiating a parliamentary maneuver to immediately depose him, they continue to follow him with heads bowed - all the way to the catastrophe."
Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, a friend of Sharon's but a strong political opponent, agrees with Segal. Speaking at a Likud gathering this week, Rivlin went so far as to say that Sharon should be removed from the Likud. "The Likud is my home, and those who have arrived as guests in my home will not tell me to leave. I say to them: Please, take leave yourselves."
Rivlin bemoaned the fact that Sharon is fooling not only the nation, but also himself. He said he once asked Sharon to explain the logic of the withdrawal, and that Sharon told him that it would bring about a historic American recognition of the settlement blocs, and would neutralize other dangerous diplomatic plans and international pressure.
Rivlin said that these explanations simply do not correspond to reality, and that the Foreign Minister of the European Union told him straight out, "We will not relax our pressure on you under any circumstances. This disengagement is just an advance payment in your total withdrawal from all of Yesha. Afterwards we will demand that you continue withdrawing, and the Gaza disengagement will disprove your claims that it is too hard."