It was a strategic mistake from a military point of view maybe Sharon really did get it wrong maybe he decided to take a gamble and it didn't pay off something we will probably never know. The main thinking behind it was political. Arafat was dead Bush wanted to make the new guy feel like he is commited to the peace process and won't shun him off as a terrorist the way he did Arafat and so he had to be seen as doing something. Sharon is probably the only PM that had what it took to push the US president about. Bush needed to deliver the goods to Abbas and Sharon wasn't about to turn ober Judea & Samaria or Jerusalem so they decided keep Abbas quiet for now and he can be seen on the palestinian street as delivering results, it looks like both Israel & the US are commited to the peace process the price was 8000 jews surounded by 1.5 million hostile arabs and protecting them cost the military a fortune. At the time politicly it made sense but unfortunatly but strategicly it didn't pay off and we have paid a heavy price for that mistake both financialy and in lives. Whatever mistakes Sharon may have made lets not forget although Olmert, Livni & Barak might be the heros of the hour they have caused this country more than any other. Barak went running out of Lebanon, he promised all sorts of things to Arafat including for the first time ever he put Jerusalem on the table and once you make an offer its hard to take it back. Olmert & Livni in Lebanon 2006 mishandled the war from start-finish and then to top it Livni negotiared 1701. Since then their love of making concesions rather than standing up to our enemies politicly or militarily until now which may have more to do with getting Livni elected and Olmert a legacy than security they have been a bunch of screw ups and so lets think about what the Kadima / Labour coalition did for this country before the war and do we still want them on election day. War sometimes has a habbit of clouding long term memories because of patriotism or the joy when we are winning.

His advisers are fools....................... The "great general" knew exactly what the results of a disengagement would be......but .he wanted to keep his son out of jail.......that failed too........

Are you kidding with this article? Why not write an article that shows the direct result of Disengagment is this situation. Every opponent of Disengagement said if you leave then Hamas will come to power and there will be rockets sent to Ashkolon and Beer Sheva. Just look it up.

With such evil and stupid people around him you can almost forgive Sharon for making such a reckless and amoral move.

As much as Sharon's cronies try to rationalize the expulsion of their Jewish brethren, the facts demonstrate that these mass evictions led to a sequence of events that have led to the current turmoil. Not only were Jewish citizens abandoned by their government, the Philadephi Route and the Rafah Crossing were no longer under Israeli control, allowing the unrestricted importation of weapons and other products into Gaza. The Arabs perceived Israel's departure as a sign of weakness and as a victory for the Palestinians and Hamas. Things have gone downhill for Israel since that time. Hamas won the PA election, Israel was humiliated in the Lebanon War, and the South was bombarded with rockets, leading to this war. To claim that the disengement was beneficial to Israel is foolish. At best, it was a risky gamble that back-fired. It's understandable but inexcusable for those who were in the government that implemented the decision to characterize it as ultimately as a good decision. Those people should move to Sderot and then tell us with a straight face that the residents of that town and their neighbors benefited by Sharon's decison.

prisoner.

I hadn't realized it but I'v been praying for Ariel Sharon for three full years! This is the first bit of news I'v had about him. I pray for him, not because I'm an admirer, he's done dreadful things; but who hasn't in their own way. I pray for him because he is loved by God and so too are we, and we are all in need of mercy at the end of the day. I'm a Catholic and I think the only end to war is to do the "impossible" love your enemies; with God's grace anything is possible, we must simply ask for this help from God. - Blessings - Rene

Nebuchadnezzar was in fact the main hero of Saddam, who himself was the main hero on the Palestinian street. Go figure.

Very good. True Saddam had his name placed on all the ancient Babylonian sites including the Temple of Nebuchenezzer. I must point out that there is no such thing as a "Palestinian" Jew, Christian or Mohammedan. Like the "West Bank". Completely fabricated term to replace Judean/Jew with "West Bank"/"Palestinian".... I mean no harm as you placed a very good post!