Gaza pullout begins

Israel begins its much-anticipated and bitter withdrawal from the Gaza strip. 8,500 settlers are supposed to be moved out so that the land can be given back to the Palestinians to fully control which Israel has occupied since the Six day war of 1967. The Gaza land, however is only one piece of land owed to the Palestinians but settled by Israelis. The West bank is the other piece and is larger with 2.4 million Palestinians but still settled by Israel and there's fears that Israel is withdrawing from Gaza in order to consolidate their hold, both politically and militarily on the West bank.

Over the last few weeks, there's been some desperate tactics by settlers and anti-pullout Jewish radicals/extremists who strongly resist ceding any land to the Palestinians, including sending activists to the settlements to obstruct police and an emotional campaign to change Ariel Sharon's mind.

With this kind of mindset, it's hard to think who's worse, the Israeli government or the Israelis themselves. Mind you, I don't think all Israelis are like this, but certainly these activists and settlers represent a major part of Israeli society. In addition, many in Sharon's own right-wing party have fiercely criticsed his plan including former PM Benjamin Netahyahu who resigned from the cabinet in protest of the Gaza pullout.