Welcome to Al Mezan’s Disengagement Digest!

In this section, Al Mezan has collected information, news and reports relevant to the Unilateral Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, which was conducted in September 2005. The information on this page has been obtained from various sources, including Al Mezan fieldworkers located around the Gaza Strip and other agencies and human rights organizations.

The Israel Unilateral Disengagement Plan was carried out from 17th August 2005 and was completed on 12th September 2005. The Plan consisted of the evacuation of 25 Jewish settlements, which are illegal under international law, from Palestinian territory. 4 settlements were evacuated in the northern West Bank and 21 in the Gaza Strip. These settlements were lived in by an estimated 8,500 Jewish settlers. The Plan also included the redeployment of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) along the borders of the Gaza Strip.

There are positive aspects of the Disengagement that should be taken into account: A large part of the land in the Gaza Strip, which was previously inhabited by Jewish settlers and controlled by the Israeli army, was evacuated and left for the Palestinians to whom the land originally belonged. There are no longer Israeli checkpoints dividing up the Gaza Strip which has greatly facilitated internal movement around the Strip.

However, and contrary to consistent Israeli claims that it is no longer legally responsible for the Gaza Strip since it has allegedly ‘ended’ its occupation, the facts on the ground reinforce what Al Mezan, as well as significant legal opinions by international experts, has been emphasizing: that the legal status of the Gaza Strip has not changed and it must still be recognized as an occupied territory with all the concurrent obligations on the occupying power. The Disengagement Plan was a step by which Israel has attempted to relieve itself of its obligations with respect to international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Israel has consistently refused to acknowledge its status as an occupying power, in order to shirk the legal obligations imposed upon an occupier. The Disengagement Plan represents a further attempt to avoid these responsibilities by advancing the claim that the evacuation of Gaza settlements and the redeployment of the Israeli army ended the occupation of the Gaza Strip. This claim is patently false, as evidenced by the text of the Plan document itself. The document states explicitly that Israel will retain control over the borders of the Gaza Strip, as well as Gaza’s airspace and coastline. Israel will also continue to claim the right to both pre-emptive and reactive security operations within the Gaza Strip.

While the Disengagement was warmly received at the international level, Al Mezan believes that the Plan must be viewed within the context of broader Israeli policy towards the OPT, as well as with reference to the explicit terms of the document itself. In addition to the control Israel has maintained over Gaza, the Disengagement from the Strip cannot be viewed separately from Israeli activity in the West Bank. As the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip makes clear, the two locations constitute a ‘single territorial unit.’ Thus the superficially positive withdrawal from Gaza must be viewed alongside the continued construction of the separation wall and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

It should be emphasized that during the same period of time as the Disengagement, the overall number of Jewish settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) increased, since some 15,400 of them settled in newly expanded settlements across the West Bank. In addition, since the Disengagement, Gaza’s border crossings have been consistently closed, hampering economic and humanitarian movement of goods, as well as movement of people, and travel between the Gaza Strip and West Bank has become practically impossible; the siege on the Gaza Strip has tightened and the residents of the Gaza Strip are now being terrorized by constant missile shelling and sonic booms.

Thus viewed, the Unilateral Disengagement Plan is clearly an Israeli attempt to divest itself of the 1.3 million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, while strengthening its control over the numerous, enormous settlements in the West Bank. Such an aim runs contrary to both international law and the agreements that govern relationships between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The contents of these documents make it clear that Israel remains an occupying power after the disengagement and must thus uphold its responsibilities as an occupying power.

In the long run, however, unilateral and disingenuous actions such as the withdrawal must be replaced by measures based on justice and respect for international law, through negotiations. Only then will a fair and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict be found.
We hope you find our Disengagement Digest useful. Please do not hesitate to contact us at info@mezan.org should you require further information.