Gush Katif

Israel grants legal status to 19 West Bank settlements, including two vacated in 2005 disengagement

The move follows government approval on Wednesday for the construction of 764 housing units across three settlements in the West Bank.

An Israeli flag flutters, with Ma'aleh Adumim is visible in the background, in the West Bank, August 14, 2025.
 OPPONENTS OF Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan face IDF troops as they secure the fence of Kfar Maimon in July 2005 after police blocked them from marching to the Gush Katif communities to protest against their demolition.

This week in Jewish history: The 2005 Gaza Disengagement

The Jerusalem Dispatch

The Jerusalem Dispatch: 20 years since disengagement

THEN-PRIME MINISTER Ariel Sharon addresses the cabinet at a meeting in 2004, ahead of a vote on approving a Gaza pullout. Let’s not forget a key cause of our ongoing disaster – Sharon’s 2005 ‘disengagement’ from Gaza, the writer charges.

The Gaza Disengagement: Sharon's strategic mistake and its cost – opinion


Sweet fruit from the West Bank sent to Israel lovers worldwide

Loss of land and losing a son in a war did not deter Yehoshua Meshulami from growing dates that reach people across the globe.

Yehoshua Meshulami and one of his children working on the dates orchard

Don't destroy the Netiv Avot homes

A deadline looms, residents of the neighborhood, along with the community of Elazar as a whole, have been holding a series of demonstrations calling on the state to intervene and somehow influence.

Bulldozers and earthmoving equipment demolish homes in the former Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim, in the Gaza Strip August 31, 2005.

MK Shaffir: Why are 400 Gaza evacuee families still homeless 10 years on?

A government representative admits "the government decided to evacuate, but did not decide how to rehabilitate" and most of the planning was for the short term.

A woman prays during the evacuation of Gush Katif in 2005.

Terror: Sometimes it is just easier to be numb

The Jerusalem Post

Disengagement Trauma

Ten years on, many former Gush Katif residents are still mourning the loss of their homes.

Opponents of the disengagement from Gush Katif confront Border Policemen at the Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom as the pullout was underway, August 18, 2005

This Week in Israeli History: Last Residents of Gush Katif Evicted, Guy Hever MIA and Emmanuel Moreno

The Jerusalem Post

Former chief of staff: Ariel Sharon designed Gaza disengagement to save West Bank settlements

Former US President George W. Bush promised Sharon that the settlement blocs would be included within Israel’s final borders after revealing the Gaza disengagement plan, says Dov Weisglass.

A woman prays during the evacuation of Gush Katif in 2005.

The humans behind the headlines

Orit Arfa's novel 'The Settler' aims to give the reader a better sense of the picture and human faces behind the disengagement of the Gaza Strip in 2005.

A woman prays during the evacuation of Gush Katif in 2005.

10 years since losing their home- and almost their religion

Three Gush Katif evacuees open up about the loss of their home, their faith, and their return to the roots that were never uprooted

Residents in Gush Katif argue with a policeman after being sprayed with colored water cannon on August 18, 2005.

Majority of Israelis say they opposed Gaza withdrawal, contrary to polling at the time

Bar-Ilan University Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies poll shows that some 59 percent of the Israeli public said they were opposed to the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.

OPPONENTS OF the disengagement plan from Gaza confront Border Police at the synagogue in the settlement of Kfar Darom in August 2005.