A loss of nerve?
A Jerusalem Post online poll shows 84 percent of participants agreeing that Israel should "unilaterally disengage from the Palestinians." Herb Keinon, also in the Jerusalem Post, suggests that this sort of sentiment provided the primary motivation for Sharon's decision. Keinon describes that sentiment as follows: "The restiveness in the country evident over the last four months – from the pilots' letter, to the Geneva Accord, to Sharon's decline in the polls – was due in large part to a national feeling of hopelessness, a feeling that the government was running in place, nothing was moving, and Sharon wasn't doing anything to change the situation." In other words, Paletinian terrorism has succeeded in forcing Israel to retreat. Not all retreats are bad, but all of them are dangerous.
