Mr. Sharon sought to align Israel with the United States and against the three other members of a so-called diplomatic quartet — the United Nations, the European Union and Russia — that has drawn up a detailed "road map" for peace and a Palestinian state in 2005.

In his remarks, made in an annual news conference with foreign reporters, Mr. Sharon predicted that Iraq would not attack Israel in the event of a war. He said Israel hoped to stay clear of the conflict.

"We are not involved in this war," he said. "We understand the sensitivity of the situation in the Middle East." Today, American forces carried out a joint operation with Israeli troops to prepare antimissile defenses against a possible Iraqi attack.

"I believe it will not happen," Mr. Sharon said of such an attack.

Mr. Sharon repeatedly said that when it came to the peace effort, Israel agreed with the United States, but not with the other quartet members.

"Your attitude toward Israel and the Arabs — the Palestinians — should be balanced," he said, addressing Europeans. He called achieving such a balance his "one condition" for welcoming Europeans as participants in the peace efforts.

Mr. Sharon said Israel accepted the road map. But he also made clear that he had his own interpretation of what that map called for, repeatedly saying that he intended to follow the guidelines laid down in a speech by President Bush last June.

Compared with the present draft of the road map, Mr. Bush's speech demanded far more immediate concessions from the Palestinians than from the Israelis.

Over the weekend, Mr. Sharon had even blunter words for the quartet and the road map in an interview with a Washington Post columnist. He was quoted as saying: "Oh, the quartet is nothing! Don't take it seriously!" He said there was a different plan "that will work."

At the news conference, Mr. Sharon read a clarification, which was issued earlier today by the Israeli government. That statement was also dismissive of three members of the quartet.

"Israel and the U.S. see eye to eye on the suitable interpretation of and the appropriate methods for implementing President Bush's speech, in contrast to the position of the other quartet members," the statement said. "The State of Israel's view is that the U.S. and Israeli vision are the only actual understandings that are likely to result in peace in the Middle East."

Mr. Sharon cited as a central complaint against the European states that Europe still treated Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, as the "address" for the Palestinians. The United States understood that Mr. Arafat must yield all executive powers to a prime minister before negotiations could begin, he said.

Mr. Sharon said today, as he has before, that Israel would make "painful concessions" for peace. But he has set numerous conditions for the Palestinians before negotiations can begin, including that they halt all violence, overhaul their political system, dismantle militant groups, and collect illegal weapons.

Although the road map is not specific about sequence, it demands that as part of a first stage the Israelis also make concessions, including withdrawing from all West Bank and Gaza territory seized since the conflict began in September 2000. It also calls on Israel to dismantle all settlements built since March 2001 and to freeze further construction.

Mr. Sharon did not address those demands directly. He said Israel did not want to stay in the territory it had recently taken, but had no choice but to remain there because of Palestinian violence.

He said he was prepared to accept an interim, demilitarized Palestinian state, with Israel in control of its airspace and its precise borders open to negotiation. "The problem is: are we going to have someone to discuss with?" Mr. Sharon said.

He said he knew Israel would have to find a way to make Palestinian-controlled territory contiguous. He has previously raised the idea of building overpasses and tunnels to get around the settlements, military bases and other Israeli installations that now separate what under the Oslo Accords are areas under Palestinian control.

Mr. Sharon said he was sincere in supporting the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, citing as evidence that he was willing to make such an endorsement during an election campaign.

Mr. Sharon's party, Likud, is comfortably ahead of its chief rival, Labor. Elections are set for Jan. 28.

Labor's leader, Amram Mitzna, calls for immediate negotiations with the Palestinians, without conditions.

Mr. Sharon was asked to explain his political popularity. Only a few years ago, he was considered a political pariah because of his record as defense minister during Israel's war in Lebanon. Mr. Sharon smiled at the question. "Maybe they tried to bury me too early," he said, "and maybe not deep enough."