Gantz says Israel shouldn’t have evacuated northern Gaza settlements in 2005 pullout

National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz says Israel should not have fully withdrawn from Gaza in 2005 under its disengagement plan, and should have left three settlements on the northern border with Israel for security reasons and to show that the post-1967 borders were “not relevant.”

He adds that the disengagement of 2005, when Israel removed all settlements in the territory and evacuated some 8,500 residents, was done in a process tainted by “lots of problems.”

Gantz also says that he advocated for seizing territory in Gaza during one of the first security cabinet meetings in which he participated at the beginning of the current war with Hamas, to create a buffer zone with the Palestinian territory.

“The disengagement was a process with lots of problems. But the biggest mistake, in my opinion, was evacuating the northern settlements of Dugit, Nissanit, and Elei Sinai,” says Gantz at the “Settlements Conference” in the West Bank settlement of Ofra organized by the Mekor Rishon newspaper.

“We should have stayed there to control the territory, but principally there was a need to remain there in order to inform the world that the 1967 lines are not relevant,” says Gantz.

He adds that he is currently in favor of establishing full security control in Gaza, but says that rebuilding settlements in the Strip would be a mistake.