Senior Israeli Cabinet ministers opened deliberations today on a three week delay in the planned pullout from the Gaza Strip which is set to begin on July 25th. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he is leaning toward delaying the withdrawal until mid-August because the original date falls during the three week Jewish mourning period ahead of Tisha b’Av, marking the destruction of the Biblical Temples. It appears that Sharon does not want the Gaza pullout to be associated with the worst national disasters in Jewish history.