Summary
Israel’s August 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, which in The Political Economy of Israeli Occupation: What is Colonial about It? “did not mean the end of occupation”: Israel retreated physically and removed the 8,500 settlers living in the Strip, but remained in control of its borders, airspace and economic resources, and consolidated the border checkpoints while Gazans still needed Israeli permits to move outside the Strip or reach the West Bank (The Political Economy of Israeli Occupation: What is Colonial about It?, PDF p.11).
Details
- Disengagement was carried out in tandem with the construction of the Separation wall in the West Bank and the hardening of West Bank checkpoints into bureaucratised terminals (PDF p.11).
- In the article’s conclusion, the colonial structure the occupation built was transformed by Oslo but “was not brought to an end, even with the Israeli disengagement plan” (PDF p.12).
- The World Bank’s 2005 report on disengagement and Palestinian economic recovery names closure, not occupation, as the source of Palestinian economic demise, and seeks ways to accommodate closures rather than abolish them (PDF p.9-10).
Related pages
The Political Economy of Israeli Occupation: What is Colonial about It?, Gaza, Separation wall, World Bank