From Haaretz , this interview with the Israeli Prime Minister: "Sharon likes to talk about the Bible, about the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, about the connection to the land and to working the land. But it's hard not to get the impression that religion and tradition are foreign to him. That he feels no attachment to the spiritual, faith- inspired side of the settlement movement. 'I'm not a religious person, but I'm a Jew,' he says. 'I didn't grow up in a religious family. I grew up in a non-religious family. My grandfather, whom I don't remember, was traditional, but not Orthodox.'
"Do you fast on Yom Kippur? Eat matza on Passover? 'I fast every Yom Kippur. In the shape I'm in, it's not that hard, and on Passover I eat only matza.'
"This Passover, Sharon is seeking conciliation with the settlers and talking about healing the rifts in the nation. He is trying to distance himself from his statement in the interview he gave NBC, in which he said that the atmosphere in Israel is like 'the eve of civil war.' When we asked him about it, he gave an embarrassed laugh. 'I'm making every effort to make the disengagement process as peaceful as possible, and even though it is a very, very painful thing, and very, very difficult, I'm trying hard to see that things are done through consent.' His readiness to consider postponing the evacuation until after Tisha B'Av - a decision he says is not yet final - and to support the Gush Katif settlers' request to move en masse to Nitzanim derives, he says, from his desire to preserve inner unity 'on the day after.' There are many other national missions to be accomplished, says Sharon. 'I'm very concerned about what will come afterwards. We must settle in the Galilee, in the Negev and in the Jerusalem area. There will be security problems, too. We won't be able to sit around and rest on our laurels.'
Sharon praises the settlers - 'In the last generation, they have been the leading group in settling the land, in pioneering and volunteerism, and in security,' he says, adding that their feeling of rejection 'won't serve Israel's objectives.' He rejects the argument that the disengagement only proves that the vast settlement project in the territories was a waste. 'The statements that are coming from the left, that it was all for nothing, and that our economic situation and the losses suffered are a result of the settlement enterprise, and also what you hear from settler leaders who talk about total destruction and the ruin of Zionism - they're doing this, of course, in order to heighten opposition, but I say to them that this is a very grave thing because the objectives and missions have not ended"
