Why did Ariel Sharon want to pull out of Gaza and the West Bank when he previously advocated for building settlements there?

6 comments

1. US pressure

2. International legitimacy, a likely genuine political shift to wanting to end the conflict, though not in the manner he saw the centre-left wishing, etc.

   I think Sharon was largely sincere, especially given what has leaked after he died.

   [https://www.timesofisrael.com/sharon-was-about-to-leave-two-thirds-of-the-west-bank/](https://www.timesofisrael.com/sharon-was-about-to-leave-two-thirds-of-the-west-bank/)

3. He has his own personal think tank which consulted to him and they suggested it. The idea was to use Gaza as a pilot, and to focus on maintaining the larger settlements in the WB. The settlement in Gaza was insignificant and Gaza has no special significance in Jewish history unlike the WB. If you can find Dan Shiftan content in English he was one of the major advocates in that think tank and still believes it was a good idea.

4. Leaving Gaza postponed the threat of the population under Israeli rule becoming majority Arab.

5. This will sound shocking. 

   The actual reason was creation of a Palestinian state. Sharon (and a sizeable cadre of likud)  though a Gaza withdrawal would create a de facto state and that relations between the states would be that of two states with a border dispute.

   This was an attempt to get out of the existing paradigm. Negotiations that go nowhere and stalled creation of palestinian state institutions. 

   He expected PNA ro begrudgingly start dealing in state building once there was no israelis left to blame on Gaza. 

6. American pressure. Bush and condoleezza rice pressured him to do so. They believed that if they will have a territory a port and an airport they would elect someone moderate .  Severe lack of understanding of Palestinian ethos.

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