Out of Gaza

This could have gone a lot worse, and given the two-thousand-year-old tensions in the region, I'd have to call this a success. How this gets us closer to a Palestinian state that recognizes its borders and respects its enemy is another thing. Israel wants to keep control of the border with Egypt, which turns the 1.3 million refugees in Gaza more into prisoners than free citizens. It doesn't have to be that way. Gaza badly needs economic development that will take the leverage out of the hands of groups like Hamas, allowing Gaza's residents to take care of themselves. A combination of real infrastructure improvements, freedom of movement, and a hardline stance from Mahmoud Abbas against armed militia will be needed. I don't know how you can have followed the Middle East over the last 50 years and not be pessimistic that all of those things can be done.

But it's a start. And Sharon should be lauded, although I'm still wary that the giveup of Gaza territory is something of a ploy to cement control over settlements in the West Bank.