Sharon wins historic Gaza vote

[GHOSTDANCER]

Israel's parliament last night voted for the first time in 37 years of occupation to remove Jewish settlements from the Palestinian territories in a historic move that Ariel Sharon said paved the way to the end of the conflict.

At the end of two days of at times raucous and bitter parliamentary debate, Mr Sharon was forced to rely on the opposition to carry through his "unilateral disengagement plan" after his Likud party split over the removal of all Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and a small part of the West Bank.

Mr Sharon won, with 67 of the 120 MPs voting for the plan and 45 against. The remainder abstained.

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1336826,00.html>

Sharon Won?

[gavodotcom]

1. I'm heartened to see Sharon realizing his errors.

Took him awhile to learn the lessons of Lebanon, didn't it?

But then again, I suppose he got the majority of what he wanted regarding the PLO from the invasion anyway.

As an outsider, I can't even begin to imagine how difficult this situation is for both sides. But I think it's clear that this is a great step.

Let's just hope if Sharon follows this first step with the others that would logically come from it, and the Palestinians make the same effort, there can be some sort of attainable peace.