Trade Union Friends of Israel

Political Overview

Since the Israelis occupied Gaza during the 1967 Six Day War, 8,500 Israeli settlers had created homes there, surrounded by a swelling population of 1.3 million Palestinians. In January 2005 Israel took the contentious decision to unilaterally withdraw.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s decision caused dissent in the governing Likud party and saw the resignation of Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who intends to challenge Sharon for the Likud leadership in primaries due to take place in April 2006. Although the majority of Israelis support disengagement, a vocal and active anti-disengagement movement organized a coordinated campaign of demonstrations in an attempt to overturn the government’s decision.

Despite these challenges to the government policy, disengagement from Gaza started on 15th August when the Israeli government gave Gaza’s 8,500 residents twenty-four hours to leave their homes before a forced evacuation commenced.

Resistance to Disengagement

The vast majority of settlers left peacefully, unwilling to fight with Israeli security forces. There were isolated pockets of more violent resistance mainly from right wing religious Israelis who had come from the West Bank to reinforce opposition to disengagement. The worst cases of violent protest were in the two towns of Neve Dakilm and Kfar Dorom where protestors gathered on the roof of a synagogue and pelted security forces with water, paint and cooking oil.

The Israeli Army (IDF) and police force, who had received months of physical and mental training for dealing with such scenarios, used shipping containers to remove protestors from the roof. Forces stormed the synagogues and methodically removed protestors.

The evacuation of all of Gaza’s 21 Israeli settlements was completed exactly eight days after it had begun. IDF officials had expected evacuation to take at least three weeks.

Disengagement moved into its next phase with the Israeli withdrawal from four towns in 300 square miles of the Northern West Bank. By the time the security forces arrived, two of the towns, Ganim and Kadim, were already empty, the settlers preferring to leave peacefully rather then being forced out. Despite expectations of acrimonious resistance in the remaining West Bank settlements of Sanur and Homesh, the process was completed on Tuesday 23rd August, without any significant trouble.

The Hamas Response

Whilst the disengagement process was completed without any major intervention from terrorist groups, in the weeks that followed tensions between Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have increased. An explosion at a Hamas rally, caused by the mishandling of a rocket killed 16 people. Hamas claimed that it was the result of an Israeli airstrike, a charge rejected by the Palestinian Authority, and fired Qassam rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot injuring 5 civilians. Israel responded with helicopter gunship attacks against Hamas targets in Gaza, and arrested 200 Hamas militants in the West Bank.

Following these events three people, including a police chief were killed in gun battles between Hamas and Palestinian security forces who were attempting to impose the ban on carrying weapons. In response the Gazan police protested at the Gaza parliament for greater support in their fight against Hamas. The PA faces a major challenge to restrict Hamas’ terrorist activity and is struggling to restrict their presence as a political force in the run up to January’s parliamentary elections.

Moving Forward

Even though Gaza is no longer under Israeli control, it still faces major economic problems. As at least 30% of Gazan’s are unemployed and 64% live below the poverty line according to the World Bank, the scale of the challenge facing both the Palestinian Authority and the international community is immese. However there are promising signs. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU’s external relations Commissioner announced that the EU was looking to double its aid to the West Bank and Gaza by up to 300m, adding ‘We want to do more, for the first time in years I think it is plausible to talk about the re-launch of the Palestinian economy’. The EU as a whole currently gives 500m annually when bi-lateral aid is included.

The EU and other donors are responding to a call from the Quartet’s Special Representative for Palestine, James Wolfensohn. The former World Bank President has called upon donors to increase funding for the Palestinian territories to $3 billion per year, in-order to kick start their ravaged economy.

The Palestinian Authority faces a major challenge ahead to make a success of Gaza and it is essential for the peace process that it does. Israel must play a key role in enabling the freedom of movement, trade and investment by resolving the outstanding issues that remain following disengagement including; the Egyptian Boarder crossings, port and airport access, extensions of the Israeli rail network and connections between Gaza and the West Bank. Making a success of Gaza is in the interests of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the international community, as there is an opportunity to make a positive difference to Palestinian lives and it is clear that a more secure and prosperous Gaza will lead to a safer Israel.