Israel-Palestine: Gaza Disengagement
On 12 September 2005 Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation. In the months leading to the final evacuation, all 9000 Israeli settlers were removed, some of them forcibly. During this process the state of Israel was torn in two with Sharon being seen either as a traitor or the deliverer of a pragmatic step towards peace. Sympathy for the settlers was widespread among Israelis, who recalled how Sharon, as housing minister in the 1990s, had actively encouraged these same settlers to take root and make home in Gaza only to evict them a decade later.
Meanwhile Palestinians in Gaza waited, in suspended disbelief, to see if it would really go ahead. When it did, there were sporadic celebrations and a tangible air of relief but few were genuinely satisfied and everyone knew this was only a step closer to a solution; their borders remained closed and their airspace controlled, the airport bombed to ruin, the sea ports closed and the West Bank corridor a distant prospect.
Nonetheless there was a sense of rekindled hope and in this atmosphere the Palestinians did what any people would have done: the old gave thanks that they lived to see it and the young dreamed of a brighter future; the poor crowded to scavenge the Israelis’ leftovers and the better off came to satisfy their curiosity and re-asses their prospects. Many simply continued with their daily lives, preoccupied with how to find work, raise their families and enjoy life. And of course, the leaders and politicians scrambled to claim their victories.
Of these, Hamas took the clear upper hand, widely perceived as having forced Israel to retreat through the use of arms. This perception, together with the community work they do, building schools and hospitals, and the widespread corruption of the then ruling Fatah Party, were the main contributing factors to their landslide victory in the January 2006 Palestinian election.
Throughout the whole process and to this day settlement construction in the West Bank continues. In spite of the removal of the 9000 settlers in Gaza, the net flow of Israelis to Occupied Territories in 2005 was 22000, some of whom were simply moved from Gaza to the West Bank.
These photos were taken on and around 12 September 2005.