Israel

Top stories of 2005 | Leaving the land (and the Likud) | Jill Nelson

Thirty-eight years after debate began over the land captured during the Six-Day War, Israel relinquished some of its bounty in 2005. The architect behind the abrupt about-face: the patron of the settler movement, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

In a radical change of course, Mr. Sharon—who once encouraged settlers to "seize every hillside"—authorized a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the West Bank. More than 8,000 settlers were evacuated during August and September in a dramatic disengagement that further increased the polarity of Israeli politics.

Although most Israelis supported the plan, not everyone went along. Settlers protested during the months leading up to the withdrawal, and many pleaded with Israeli Security Forces—numbering 55,000—during their exodus from settlement towns. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigned from his post as minister of finance over the withdrawal, stating that it poses security risks and gives in to the demands of terrorists.