With Israel having now entered “Day 6 of Operation Pillar of Defense”, many will find the 3 minute video posted below quite interesting.
The video, is a collection of Israeli politicians voicing their opinion on the Israeli Disengagement of the Gaza Strip in 2005.
Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan also known as the “Disengagement plan”, was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to resettle all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank.
Those Israeli citizens who refused to accept government compensation packages and voluntarily vacate their homes prior to the August 15, 2005 deadline, were evicted by Israeli security forces over a period of several days. The eviction of all residents, demolition of the residential buildings and evacuation of associated security personnel from the Gaza Strip was completed by September 12, 2005. The eviction and dismantlement of the four settlements in the northern West Bank was completed ten days later.
These areas also contained numerous IDF installations. Sharon said that his plan was designed to improve Israel’s security and international status in the absence of political negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. About nine thousand Israeli residents within Gaza were instructed to leave the area or face eviction by the night of Tuesday August 16, 2005.
Under the disengagement plan adopted on June 6, 2004, the IDF would have remained on the Gaza-Egypt border and could have engaged in further house demolitions to widen a ‘buffer zone’ there. However, Israel later decided to leave the border area, which is now controlled by Egypt and the Palestinians, through the PNA. Israel continues to control Gaza’s coastline and airspace and reserves the right to undertake military operations when necessary. Egypt controls Gaza’s Egyptian border. Israel continues to provide Gaza with water, communication, electricity, and sewage networks.
