John Smith wrote on Apr 12
th, 2024 at 3:01pm:
[quote author=Frank link=1712872603/16#16 date=1712882323]
Nothing new. Macgregor explains larger strategic chessboards.
During the Six-Day War, in 1967, Israeli forces occupied the Gaza Strip, and in 1970 Israel built the first Israeli settlement in the territory. By 2005 the Gaza Strip had 21 Israeli settlements and about 9,000 Israeli settlers compared with about 1.3 million Palestinians living in the territory. Meanwhile, in 1993 Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had agreed to a framework for Palestinian self-governance in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (see Oslo Accords). As part of that peace process, Israeli forces withdrew from the city of Gaza in 1994 (as well as from the West Bank city of Jericho) and transferred civilian functions for the city to the newly created Palestinian Authority (PA). But concerns over Israel’s security derailed the peace process, especially because of violence from religious nationalists on both sides. At the turn of the century, negotiations came to a virtual halt with the outbreak of the second intifada (2000–05).
Despite the impasse, the cost of occupying the Gaza Strip weighed heavily on the Israeli public, especially amid rising casualties among soldiers who were deployed to defend the settlements. In 2002 the idea of evacuating the settlements before negotiations recommenced was floated by the leader of the Israel Labor Party, then the largest party on the Israeli left. In 2003 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon embraced the idea, despite strong opposition within his own Likud Party. That December, Sharon unveiled a plan for the complete removal of Israeli settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip. At the insistence of the United States, the plan later included the evacuation of four small settlements in the West Bank.
On August 15, 2005, when the deadline for evacuation had passed, only about two-thirds of all the settlers had left their homes and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) notified the remaining settlers that soldiers would begin enforcing the evacuation order two days later. Most of the remaining settlers agreed to leave when prompted by the soldiers, but some resisted and were carried away, sometimes screaming. The most dramatic evacuation was in Kfar Darom, where soldiers broke through a barricade in a synagogue and removed some 200 residents despite violent protest. On August 22 the IDF reached an agreement with residents of Netzarim, the last of the settlers in the Gaza Strip, whereby they agreed to evacuate after a final prayer service in the local synagogue. In the weeks that followed, Israeli forces demolished residential buildings and dismantled military installations and completed their withdrawal on September 12.
Some land grab.