In an interview with the daily Haaretz, Sharon said that after the "shock" that had run through the region with the US take-over of Baghdad, "there is therefore a chance to reach an agreement faster than people think."

"We face the possibility that a different period will begin here. The move carried out in Iraq generated a shock through the Middle East and it brings with it the prospect of great change," he told the newspaper.

"One has to view things realistically," said the 75-year-old former general, in his first major interview since the Iraq war began. "Eventually there will be a Palestinian state ... I do not think we have to rule over another people and run their lives."

Sharon refused to give details of whether he was planning to evacuate specific Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, but reiterated that he was ready to make "painful concessions."

"We are talking about the cradle of Jewish civilisation. Our whole history is bound up with these places. Bethlehem, Shiloh and Beit El," he said, referring the re-occupied Palestinian self-rule town south of Jerusalem and two West Bank settlements.

"And I know we will have to part with some of these place. There will be a parting from places that are connected to the whole course of our history. As a Jew, this agonises me," he said.

Asked if he would be willing to evacuate the settlement of Netzarim, on the south edge of Gaza City, he said: "I don't want to go into a discussion of a specific place. This is a delicate subject and there is no need to talk a lot about it"

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