The Disengagement Plan consist on an unilateral withdrawal to remove all permanent Israeli presence of 21 civil settlements of the Gaza Strip and 4 settlements of the West Bank.
Under the disengagement plan adopted on June 6, 2004, the Israel Defense Forces will remain on the Gaza-Egypt border and may engage in further house demolitions to widen a ‘buffer zone’. Israel will continue to control Gaza’s borders, coastline, and airspace, and reserves the right to undertake military operations at will. Gaza will also remain dependent on Israeli water, communication, electricity, and sewage networks.
Israel will not accept a Palestinian sovereign authority in Gaza at this time, foreign observers have argued that, legally, the disengagement will not constitute an end to Israeli control. The disengagement plan is not an agreed process towards peace as publicised by the Israel government nor the result of political negotiations to end the conflict.
Foreign governments, as the US, have endorsed the plan as a step towards secure and recognized borders.
Read the full text of the article “Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement Plan (and George Bush accepting it)” at: Middle East Web
More on the cronology, reactions and implementation of the Disengagement Plan
