Friday’s 20th anniversary of the beginning of Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has, for Palestinians, been overshadowed by last week’s Knesset approval to extend Israeli control in the strip.
Israel already holds 75 per cent of Gaza. Under the plan, it will reoccupy Gaza City and an area on the coast near Rafah in the south where half of the 2.3 million displaced Palestinians have settled in tent camps.
The United Nations has warned that this campaign, which could last until October, could have “catastrophic consequences”.
I was there two decades ago when Palestinians marked Israel’s planned withdrawal by decking Omar Mukhtar Street, Gaza City’s main thoroughfare, with red, black, green and white flags.
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Referred to as “disengagement”, Israel’s withdrawal was engineered by Ariel Sharon, then prime minister, who sought to focus on expanding Jewish settlement of the West Bank. His rival, Binyamin Netanyahu, who was finance minister, opposed the Gaza plan and resigned from the government.
Hamas responded to the announcement of the withdrawal by holding a prayer meeting at a mosque and staging a small flag-waving rally on the steps of the media office.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Haniyeh said Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip after 38 years of occupation was a “victory for God and the resistance”.
He said this was the “first step in the liberation of the homeland. Gaza is not first and last”.
He said “the occupation will not end” until Israel staged a complete and comprehensive withdrawal “from all Palestinian territory captured in 1967″.
Also speaking at the time, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called the disengagement a “historical moment, as Israel is leaving settlements for the first time since the beginning of the Arab-Israeli conflict”.
However, Gazan legislator Rawiya Shawwa told me: “Nothing will improve unless we have economic development. For this we need freedom to travel and trade and control over our resources.” And Palestinian deputy prime minister Nabil Shaath warned: “Israel retains control by land, sea and air.”
On August 15th, 2005, Israel’s army issued evacuation orders to the 8,000 Israelis living in 21 settlements who were promised compensation if they vacated voluntarily. Those who resisted were evicted forcibly and by September 12th all residential and public buildings had been demolished.
Flag-bearing Palestinians flocked to the settlements, firing shots into the air and detonating fireworks.
Celebrations were muted as the Palestinian Authority had designated October 15th for popular rejoicing. By that time Palestinians had hoped they would have regained control over their lives, land, and sea.
Restricted to five nautical miles from the coast, fisherman said they must be able to cast their nets further out where fish were plentiful. A plan was put forward to allow fishermen to move five nautical miles from the coast, expand the small port, restock the sea with fish and build a new fish market. None of this happened.
One of the first steps to create optimism among Palestinians was the removal of Israeli army checkpoints which had slowed traffic and caused jams along the main north-south road, forcing Palestinians to divert to a rough track above the coast.
After showing me the route, gynaecologist Omar Ferwana said his patients in the south would be able to drive directly to Gaza City instead of risking arrest with the detour.
Ferwana, his wife Sabah, daughter Aya and five grandchildren were killed in an Israeli air strike on October 15th, 2023.
Before leaving, settlers destroyed scores of greenhouses which were meant to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.
United States Jewish donors, led by former World Bank head James Wolfensohn, had raised funds to buy remaining greenhouses to promote economic advancement in the Strip.
However, due to the authority’s failure to impose order after the Israeli withdrawal, Palestinian farmers looted pumps and other equipment from the greenhouses.
But their structures survived and $20 million (€17m) was invested to restore production and resume exports of vegetables and fruit.
But this was slowed by Palestinian mismanagement, US interference and then blocked by Israel, citing security concerns.
The well-meaning Wolfensohn plan was scrapped and revenue-generating exports were blocked. “Instead of hope, the Palestinians saw that they were put back in prison,” he said.
