Nobody can say what Ariel Sharon's true motives are concerning the disengagement. Whatever people say is speculation. It is not likely that his motives have anything to do with the Greek Islands Affair of which the court found him not guilty.
Speculation that is more realistic would be the pressure that the Bush Administration has put on Sharon to disengage. Who knows what promises Bush had made to Sharon if he carries out the pull out? None of us had the privilege (including reporters of course) of being flies on the White House walls where Sharon and Bush had their four-eyed meetings. Much of the time, the public had to be satisfied with terse press statements.
It is very unlikely that Sharon – the father of the settlement movement - would do such an about turn on his ideology had there not been the full weight of U.S. pressure on him. He has taken very heavy risks that has eroded his power base and caused a severe schism in his party because of the disengagement and settler removals. There are factors influencing his decisions of which we are unaware. Sharon had contributed much and encouraged the settler movements in the past.
It is likely that he seeks a place in history when his tenure as prime minister ends. A leopard never changes his spots; he may cause them to be fainter. Sharon has not publicized his motivation for disengagement. This could mean that he has an ulterior motive not to antagonize the US. When Israel never abided by US decisions, she usually came off second best. A case in point occurred under George Bush snr.when he withheld loans guarantees to Israel while James Baker was foreign secretary over 12 years ago. Maybe Sharon had a feeling of deja vu behind closed doors.
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