The Gaza Withdrawal
Christopher McGeady
Issue date: 9/29/05 Section: editor's picks
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Versus Magazine Online [Image based format]
[Editor's Note: Christopher's last name is McGeady not McGready. I fully apologize this sloppy mistake.]
Amidst a storm of celebration, protest, goodwill, and distrust over the recent Israeli withdrawal of settlements and military presence from the Gaza strip, a Palestinian boy hopes to one day become a pilot. Dreaming and high hopes are no longer out of the question for 12-year-old Hasham.
"I dream of becoming a pilot. I want to fly over the West Bank, over Egypt. I want to see other skies."[1]
His sentiments come days after Israel completed its historic withdrawal of approximately 9000 settlers from 22 Jewish settlements in Gaza and another four in the West Bank. Officially termed Israel's "Unilateral Disengagement Plan,"[2] the Gaza withdrawal was proposed by Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon with the hopes of improving Israel's national security and as a goodwill gesture toward the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Israel came into possession of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and a large part of the Golan Heights after the 1967 Six-Day War in which Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on June 5, 1967 against massing Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula. Israel also launched a counterstrike against attacking Jordanian forces in the West Bank, and an attack against entrenched Syrian forces in the Golan Heights. By the time a cease-fire was signed on June 11th, Israel had tripled in size, capturing the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt (Gaza was an Egyptian protectorate, but considered part of Palestine). It had also acquired the Golan Heights from Syria, and the West Bank (controlled by Jordan but also considered Palestinian). As a ceasefire condition of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt, but annexed parts of the West Bank.