16 years since the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip

 Today, Sunday, marks the 16th anniversary of the withdrawal of the last Israeli soldier from the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli withdrawal came after the pressure exerted by the Palestinian resistance on the occupation forces, especially with the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, and what was known as the tunnel war, which, during the two years preceding the withdrawal, targeted fortified positions of the army in the Strip.
This raised the security cost on the occupation government, and pushed it to flee, in addition to what Sharon called at the time the “disengagement” plan with the aim of easing the economic and material burdens on the occupation government.
On these days in 2005, "Israel" began evacuating its settlements from the Gaza Strip, in a historic event, as it had never before vacated land it had seized since its occupation of historic Palestine in 1948.
Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, and remained responsible for its administration until the arrival of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, when it entrusted it to the authority, while maintaining its forces in compounds and central settlements inside the Strip, in which more than 6,000 settlers lived.
Fifteen years have passed since Israel evacuated 21 settlements that occupied 35,910 dunums of the area of ​​the Gaza Strip, whose area does not exceed about 360 square kilometers, and where about eight thousand settlers lived.
The “Gush Katif” community alone included 15 settlements, in which about five thousand settlers lived, until the announcement of the imminent implementation of the “withdrawal plan.”
The first settlement in the Gaza Strip, Netzer Hazani, was established in 1976, while the last three small settlements were established in 2001 after the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
As soon as the withdrawal process began, the occupation soldiers and settlers began to demolish and blew up their settlements, so as not to leave behind spoils or habitable buildings. 2000 homes and 26 synagogues were destroyed, while other public buildings were not touched.
The withdrawal plan also included 4 settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are: “Ganim, Kadim, Homesh and Sanur.”
After the withdrawal, thousands of Palestinians left at that time with joy and hope for a better life, after 38 years of occupation of the small coastal strip, which began with the defeat of June 1967.
The views of the leaders of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip varied from that complex process, after 15 years of Its implementation has been between supporters and opponents until today, due to the futility of turning the Gaza Strip into a “large powder keg.”
The famous military analyst, Alon Ben-David, stated that although the withdrawal came to get rid of the security and military dilemma that the Gaza Strip posed to the army and settlers, after 15 years of withdrawal, the reality seemed more complicated, as the missiles were threatening Tel Aviv instead of the cover, and even beyond that.
Speaking about the withdrawal, Ben David said, “Was the withdrawal a security disaster, or did it fortify the security situation?” For this purpose, he held several meetings with former leaders of the occupation army who accompanied the withdrawal.
Ben David spoke of a series of bloody operations that hastened the withdrawal process. He killed 13 soldiers by destroying two troop carriers in the Strip a year before the withdrawal.
In turn, the official of the Operations Division in the occupation army said during the operation that “the nightmare at the time was how to complete the withdrawal without bloodshed, whether by soldiers or settlers, and that it prevented the use of even sticks to evacuate in pursuit of a soft evacuation.”
He pointed out that the majority of the scenes of violence between settlers and army soldiers were young boys who came from West Bank settlements and were not residents of Gaza settlements.
According to observers, the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip constituted a major turning point in the development of the performance of the Palestinian resistance and its weapons, and the expansion of its battle with the occupation, until it became innovated in one battle after another, and the people remained protective and supportive of it despite the siege and the continuation of the aggression.
Despite the passage of 16 years since the Israeli withdrawal, the aggressive practices of the occupation are still continuing against the Gaza Strip and its residents, by imposing the unjust siege on Gaza, which led to the collapse of many sectors, and the continuation of its attacks in various forms, exacerbating the suffering of the people of the Strip.
The Gaza Strip, which is inhabited by more than two million people, suffers from difficult economic conditions and accumulated crises related to electricity and water, and the arrival of poverty and unemployment to unprecedented rates.

التعليقات والاراء

اضافة تعليق