What's It All About, Arik?

I just came across this piece and it really sums up my views on the Israeli pullout of Gaza and West Bank.

Love him or loathe him, Ariel Sharon is an intriguing man. There’s something about that kreplach physique and that lightly wall-eyed, goofy, avuncular grin that clashes jarringly with his laser-focused ruthlessness. With characteristic brio, he has just taken an epoch-making step in support of the quiet, wary Israeli majority, most of whom are still too bewildered and apprehensive and shaken by the trauma to the settlers to decide if they’re glad or not. In the process, he has betrayed an important constituency that considered him a spiritual kinsman.

The move was enormously risky. As I discussed a couple of days ago, the withdrawal could prove a visionary success or a spectacularly foolhardy lurch toward catastrophe. Sharon is no fool, though. He has the old soldier’s instinct for careful risk assessment. When he decided to evacuate Gaza, what result did he have in mind?

Hat Tip to Conservative Grapevine