Unilateral Disengagement

(Hitnatkut, Tokhnit Hahitnatkut)

   Name applied to Israel's withdrawal of about 9,500 settlers and military personnel from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank in the summer of 2005. The withdrawal was officially the implementation of Tokhnit HaHit-natkut, The Disengagement Plan Implementation Law. The disengagement from the Gaza Strip was completed on 12 September 2005, when the last Israeli soldier left the area. The military disengagement from the northern West Bank was completed 10 days later.

   The plan to disengage unilaterally from the Gaza Strip was first announced by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the December 2004 Herzliya Conference. Sharon argued that the disengagement would improve Israel's long-term security and international status; his rationale for undertaking the process unilaterally was that, with the breakdown of the Camp David II talks and the initiation of the Al-Aksa intifada, there was no Palestinian "partner" with whom Israel could negotiate.

   Israel continued to control Gaza's coastline and airspace and reserved the right to undertake military operations when necessary in response to terrorist provocations (such as Operation Summer Rain). Initially, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was to have remained on the Gaza-Egypt border and reserved the right to engage in further house demolitions to widen a "buffer zone" there. However, after intense negotiations brokered by the United States, the Knesset on 31 August voted to withdraw the IDF from the Gaza-Egypt border and allow Egyptian deployment of border police along the Egyptian side of the border (demilitarized under the terms of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty). In addition, the European Union contributed forces to assist the Palestinian Authority in monitoring the flow of illegal weapons through border checkpoints into Gaza.

   The 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip affected by the unilateral disengagement were Bedolah, Bnei Atzmon (Atzmona), Dugit, Elei Sinai, Gadid, Gan Or, Ganei Tal, Katif, Kfar Darom, Kfar Yam, Kerem Atzmona, Morag, Netzarim, Netzer Hazani, Neve Dekalim, Nisanit, Pe'at Sadeh, Rafiah Yam, Shirat Hayam, Slav, and Tel Katifa. The four settlements in the northern West Bank affected by the unilateral disengagement were Ganim, Homesh, Kadim, and Sa Nur.