August 4, 2005
Embassy of Israel Briefing
Israel is moving ahead with its plans this summer to
turn over the Gaza Strip and more than 300 square
miles of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority.
Against the background of more than four years of
terrorist bloodshed, Israel initiated its
Disengagement Plan in the Gaza Strip and northern
Samaria for two principal purposes: to enhance its
security and to put the peace process with the
Palestinians back in motion.
Israel's historic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and
Northern Samaria entails Israel's largest
territorial concession since it transferred control
of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. Moreover,
Disengagement emphatically reaffirms the Jewish
State's willingness to take substantial risks in its
quest to make peace with its neighbors.
Israel's withdrawal from Gaza will mean that 1.3
million Palestinians will no longer be subject to
Israeli jurisdiction. Meanwhile, Israel's
dismantlement of four settlements in northern
Samaria will create a contiguous region there of 300
square miles under Palestinian control and with no
Israeli presence. As a result, nearly 430,000 West
Bank Palestinians will no longer be under any
Israeli security control.
Israel's evacuation requires a considerable
sacrifice on the part of about 8,000 people - some
1,700 families - who must leave the homes and
livelihoods they have built over the course of
several decades. Removing the Jewish communities
from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria means:
. 3 high schools, 7 elementary schools, 36
kindergartens, and 42 day-care centers must close;
. 5,000 schoolchildren will need to find new
schools;
. 38 synagogues must be dismantled;
. 166 Israeli farmers will lose their livelihoods,
and 5,000 Palestinians employed on these Israeli
farms will lose their jobs;
. 48 graves, including those of six residents
murdered by terrorists, will be exhumed and moved to
other cemeteries in Israel.
A return to peace negotiations under the terms of
the US-backed Roadmap very much depends on the
success of the Disengagement. Any return to a
political negotiating process is predicted on the
Palestinian Authority preventing Hamas and other
extremists from filling the vacuum in Gaza. Progress
towards peace under the Roadmap will be impossible
if the Palestinian leadership simply tries to
"pocket" Israel's unilateral withdrawal while
neglecting to meet its responsibilities, first and
foremost, to dismantle the terrorists groups and
definitively abandon terrorism.
Click here
to read more about the origin of the disengagement
plan and its provisions.
Print
Subscribe
Email
Article
