The Israelis are neither politically sensitive nor aware of what Sharon really is. He is still managing the situation with an occupier's mentality, sending the Arabs a message that Zionist dreams of Greater Israel are very much alive today. His verbal support for a political settlement is simply a political maneuver respite during which Israel can gather momentum and bounce back with more immigrants imported to populate the legendary state stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates. This is Sharon's problem. The coming days will tell.
Religious fundamentalism is the same, whether Jewish, Christian or Islamic.
All forms of fundamentalism are racist since they consider people who belong to a certain religion as superior, and so justify discrimination against others. The Zionist fundamentalist state of Israel, backed by the US, has built an arsenal of modern weapons provided by the US to attack unarmed civilian populations, destroy homes, occupy Palestinians' land and kill women and children. When the Palestinians fight back with stones they are called terrorists. When in desperation a few of them throw bombs or plant dynamite, the media conceals Israel's organized massive state terrorism and depicts the Palestinians as fanatical aggressors. The rout deeply shook Egyptians, but it was illustriously avenged six years later when Egyptian Armed Forces once and for all shattered the myth that the Israeli army was invincible.