Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Cabinet that he expects Palestinians to loot Jewish settlements immediately after Israeli forces leave Gaza this summer. That would suggest that Sharon sees coordinating the pullout with the Palestinian Authority as futile. Nevertheless, Sharon plans to leave the settlements intact. Pictures of Palestinians looting the abandoned homes of Jews would be a blow to Israel's national psyche and morale. So critics are asking why Sharon is volunteering to put the nation through that kind of trauma.