Palestinian Authority Chairman Mr Yasser Arafat has said he will keep seeking a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital even if it kills him.
"We do not know how to retreat, we know how to advance," Mr Arafat, confined by Israel to his West Bank headquarters, said in impassioned remarks to a group of Palestinian intellectuals in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Mr Arafat recalled Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon when Israeli forces besieged the Palestinian leader and Palestine Liberation Organisation members in Beirut. Mr Sharon was defence minister at the time.
"I tell these Israeli tanks this is not the first time and will not be the last time they place us under siege . . . we are here to stay and will not succumb," he said.
Although warning that Palestinians would not compromise their claims, he said he would continue to seek peace with Israel.
"We have not retreated for a minute, but we extend our hand to make the peace of the brave," he said.