Sharon gains from Gaza success

By Jim Fish
BBC News, Jerusalem

The pullout has gone more smoothly than expected

Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been quick to praise the troops and police who have almost completed the evacuation of the Gaza Strip settlements.

Most commentators believe that the Prime Minister has been politically strengthened by the success of the operation.

A successful disengagement from Gaza was essential for Israel's Prime Minister.

Since he first announced the plan nearly two years ago it has aroused vehement opposition within his ruling Likud party, provoked resignations of coalition partners from his cabinet and led the settler movement to denounce their former patron as a traitor.

But the speed and smoothness of the evacuation have come as an added bonus.

The government has been able to depict the more violent of its opponents as a lunatic fringe, compared with the professionalism of the security forces.

This contrast will only be sharpened if the evacuation of two further West Bank settlements turns violent as some have predicted.

Netanyahu challenge

Looking further ahead Mr Sharon may now turn with more confidence to confront a likely leadership challenge from his only serious rival, the former prime minister and finance minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

The Likud Party remains divided over the need for settlement closures and Mr Sharon may have to tread carefully if the party is not to break up.

It's widely believed that his grand strategy is to close the more isolated of the West Bank settlements and consolidate Israel's control over the territory behind the newly constructed security barrier.

That would re-energise his domestic opponents and arouse widespread international protest.

However, on both fronts his opponents have been temporarily silenced by the success of the pullout from Gaza, and at the very least Mr Sharon seems to have gained for himself some valuable breathing space.