a view from the Guardian on why the withdrawal..

Sharon breaks covenant with settlers;
Security interests no longer aligned with messianic minority's dream of greater Israel; Chris McGreal in Neve Dekalim; Thursday August 18, 2005; The Guardian


In removing just 8,000 of the 400,000-plus Jews living on occupied Palestinian land, Mr Sharon acknowledged that the dream of greater Israel was dead and the country's security interests were no longer aligned with the settlers whose desires once dominated government decisions. ... The growing number of young refuseniks who ducked national service because they did not want to serve the occupation could be dismissed as lacking moral fibre. But when helicopter pilots and commandos said they would no longer be complicit in "war crimes", particularly in Gaza, Mr Sharon could not ignore it.

Ordinary Israelis began to ask why nearly 100 soldiers have died in Gaza to protect a few thousand settlers living among more than a million Arabs. Yonatan Bassi, the head of the disengagement authority, described the soldiers as "human flakjackets".

...The Gaza withdrawal plan represented an about face by Mr Sharon.... It represented a significant step towards resolving what Israelis call their demographic problem: how to get rid of responsibility for millions of Arabs who threaten Israel's desire to be both Jewish and democratic.

"Gaza cannot be held on to forever," said Mr Sharon on Monday in an address to the country. "Over 1 million Palestinians live there, and they double their numbers with every generation."