“Unfortunately, this place was given to our enemies without any real reason. This center [Gush Katif Commemoration Center] reminds us of what we gave up, and why it must never happen again. I call on everyone to come and visit here to understand what a great calamity it was, and how we are obligated to prevent such a calamity from happening again.”
These words were uttered by new Likud Knesset member Miki Zohar after he visited the Gush Katif Commemoration Center in Nitzan on June 7. Gush Katif is a former Gaza Strip settlement bloc. Zohar's visit was part of a series of events marking a decade since the evacuation of the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria as part of the 2005 disengagement plan. Yinon Magal and Bezalel Smotritz, two Knesset members from the HaBayit HaYehudi Party, visited the site before Zohar.
In the coming days and weeks, as we approach Aug. 15 — the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the evacuation — we will hear more and more allegations along the lines of Zohar’s statement: empty cliches taken from the narrative cultivated by the right in the last decade, according to which the disengagement from Gaza was a catastrophe that led to the rise of Hamas and brought about the rocket terror. The renewed rocket fire from Gaza last weekend toward the localities in the south, almost a year after the Protective Edge campaign in the Gaza Strip, provided fresh ammunition for right-wing mudslinging against the disengagement plan.
Right-wing spokespeople, including senior politicians headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have succeeded over the years in transforming the disengagement plan (of late Prime Minister and Likud Chairman Ariel Sharon) into a symbol of diplomatic blindness, diplomatic and security irresponsibility and a road sign warning against similar steps in the future. The right-wing position, which holds that every time Israel retreats from territories they then become hotbeds of terror, has taken root in the public consciousness. On the other hand, the arguments of the supporters of the disengagement have paled over the years as the rounds of fighting in Gaza became more frequent and the range of the rockets increased to the extent that they briefly shut down Ben Gurion Airport last summer. The center-left attempt to present the disengagement plan as a brave diplomatic initiative that bore fruit for Israel failed.
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