All I keep hearing about in mainstream news (as well as Hamas' propaganda) is that Palestine has struck a great victory against Israel by forcing the Israel settlers out of Gaza. I've also heard that by leaving, the Israelis are giving in to Islamist terrorism, making it seem as if it's a valid tactic.
Ariel Sharon himself is the military general most credited with establishing the settlements in Gaza in the first place. This pullout is viewed as a cowardly reversal on his part and a loss for the Israelis. Read on for why this isn't so.
Ariel Sharon was an Israeli military general for a long time and still thinks with the mindset of one. His scheduled withdrawl from the Gaza Strip is not any sort of admission that terrorism works. He is not being cowardly by reversing his earlier decision to occupy the Gaza Strip. The initial occupation of Gaza and this week's pullout are military decisions, pure and simple.
The Gaza Strip is simply not defensible. The settlers are spread out amongst potentially hostile Palestinians. The roads leading to them from Israeli-controlled Israeli are not secured and make great targets for roadside bombs. Ariel Sharon is thinking like a military general and ordering the pullout from the Gaza Strip is strictly a military decision. The Gaza Strip was pretty much indefensible; by relocating those settlers into Israel proper they are much easier to defend.
This may be the beginning of the accomplishment of peace in that region, though it may also be the beginning of great strife. Think - Sharon is handing down orders that consolidate Israel and make it more defensible. Maybe he thinks that as long as Israel exists there will be Islamists who will spend night and day trying to destroy it. He may be setting his people up for the long haul by establishing good defensive positions.
Look at another major decision he's made in the defense of his country - the creation of a several hundred mile-long wall along one of the borders of Israel. Israel may be heading towards becoming a gigantic walled city, like a super-sized ancient Rome. It will be much more defensible than it is today. Perhaps Sharon is thinking Israel needs to be turned into a stronghold if it is survive in the long haul. Ordering the pull out from the Gaza Strip goes hand-in-hand with the creation of the wall, because it would be very hard to defend your citizens who live outside the wall (which is where the Gaza Strip would be).
So don't take this action as any sign of weakness on Sharon's part. Is it weakness when a general orders his troops from their campsites into the foxholes? No, it's a solid defensive strategy. This is pretty much what Ariel Sharon is doing. You'd be more likely to go to war if all of your citizens are in easily defensible positions than if they are spread out through the Gaza Strip and would be easy prey for enemies.
Ariel Sharon's pullout from Gaza is a sound military decision and may pave the way for future strongholdization of Israel proper. Sharon may be right when he looks at the current situation and says that peace may never be possible, so the best possible solution is to make your citizens as safe from the ravages of war as possible.