Leaving Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced plans for a complete end to Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip. Over break, I learned that during the Camp David negotiations under President Carter, it was Sharon who declared to Begin that the Sinai settlements were unnecessary for defense purposes, and later Sharon who saw to their evacuation. The settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, however, have different ideological associations, and I've been wondering if Sharon would take the same attitude. This is a positive sign.

UPDATE: Jonathan Edelstein has a good analysis of this. There's also discussion at An Unsealed Room.

UPDATE: Imshin also weighs in, including a description of Gaza from her days in the reserves:

"Rafah horrified me. I’d never seen so many people in my life, just standing about, hanging around, in the streets and alleyways. It looked like prison. And to make things worse, the town was cut in half by a border. Half the town was in Israel, the other half in Egypt. The Egyptian side didn’t look any better than the Israeli side, by the way. We drove along the border in a jeep. I believe you can’t do that today, unless you’re in a heavily armed vehicle, and even then it’s very dangerous. That’s the border they tunnel under to smuggle arms in."

Read the whole post. As far as the heritage of the Gaza Strip goes, Gaza City is home to the tomb of Hashim, namesake of the Prophet Muhammad's Hashemite clan. According to EB On-Line, it was also a Philistine city where Samson allegedly died and the birthplace of ash-Shafi, founder of the Shafi'i madhhab.