[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

The ones caught in the middle are the Palestinians who live in an apartheid state.

The Gaza strip was self governed by the Hamas since the Itnatkut(one sided disengagement) in 2005. They weren't living inside the Israeli state.

The second Intifada, which began in 2000, was marked by intense violent protests, suicide bombings, riots and attacks. Then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon argued that defending a population of approximately 9,000 settlers came at a high cost. Clashes in Gaza between the Israeli forces and Hamas and even Yasser Arafat's PLO made the future of the peace process with Palestinians look bleak and the defence of Jews in the area was turning into a costly affair for Israel.

The unilateral disengagement process began in August of 2005 and by September, around 9,000 Jews living in 25 settlements were evicted and the Israeli troops completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip to the Green Line -- a 1949 Armistice Line drawing boundaries between Israel and its Arab neighbours. These settlements had stood for decades until 2005 and their removal involved bulldozing, forceful eviction by Israeli troops. Although the settlers received compensation from the Israeli government for rehabilitation, the process was protracted and tedious.

Israel's withdrawal from Gaza was portrayed as a step towards a peace process, but in 2006, Hamas won a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council election, marking a dramatic shift in Palestinian politics and the emergence of the group as an alternative to Fatah, a group that now governs in the West Bank. The aftermath of the disengagement plan was starkly different from what was envisioned.

Hamas failed to maintain a unity government with Fatah, which resulted in violent clashes or referred to by some experts as a brief civil war in Gaza.

Hamas took complete control of the military and political establishment in Gaza and Fatah was left to govern in the West Bank, it was followed by terror attacks against Israel by Hamas. Between 2008 and 2023, Israel and Hamas engaged in recurring clashes, resulting in thousands of casualties over the years.

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