Sharon to pull settlements out of Gaza

BattleBoar

Ariel Sharon today announced that he had plans to pull all the settlements from Gaza and that he could envision a time when no Jews were in gaza.

Pretty amazing turnaround for a guy who is probably the most villified person in the Muslim world.

I think this is a necessary step for the security of Israel, as current birthrate projections make the Jews a minority in their own country within 30 years time, a development which would surely mean the end of Israel and many Jews killed in the chaos of the transistion to an Islamic government. However, many Likud party members definitely don't feel the same way. Apparently Sharon narrowly escaped a vote of no confidence because a bunch of them stormed out after the announcement, abstaining from the vote.

Sharon says Gaza settlements will go


EDIT: I should mention the timetable for the pull out has not been detailed, but will apparently be discussed when Sharon meets with the Palestinian Prime Minister and with Bush

davelerave

they've decided to let go of gaza ' where over a million Palestinians live in poverty beside a few thousand settlers who control 21 per cent of the land'.good timing with all the trouble he's been having lately.score some brownie points with the us and europe as well

Sparks

From that article:

Opinion polls show a large majority of Israelis willing to part with Gaza settlements. They have no strategic value, require a heavy military presence to protect them and have little of the biblical significance that draws Jews to settle in the West Bank, site of more than 120 enclaves.

And also this quote from Sharon in the article:

"The first thing is to ask their agreement, to reach an agreement with the residents...it's not a quick matter, especially if it's done under fire," he added.

Now add on the fact that there's no timetable, and you're pretty much left with the equivalent of the sort of ****e you hear people coming out with after ten or twelve pints of guinness on a friday night. As opposed to a bold new policy initiative from one of the most repugnant men in politics today.

mr_angry

Yeah. By the sounds of things, the settlers aren't exactly planning on leaving either. Still, all Sharon has to do is to pull the plug on the £300m a year that he spends protecting and developing the area, and they're f*cked.

I don't really believe that the Arabs living in Israel really want islamic government anyway, even if they eventually hold the majority. Not every Arab in Israel is an opressed Palastinian, and the majority are satisfied with the democratic government of the moment.