THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
AUGUST 13, 2020
44
The People of Israel Before the Land of Israel Remembering the Resolute Restraint Displayed During the 2005 Disengagement
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
BY TZVI LEFF
I
t was a hot July day in the southern village of Kfar Maimon in 2005, and the modern State of Israel seemed closer to a civil war than in any other period during its short history. Over 50,000 Israelis – the majority affiliated with the Religious Zionist sector – had converged onto the small moshav in what was a last-ditch effort to scuttle the looming Gaza Disengagement. Led by rabbis and community leaders, they intended to march into the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza and remain in the villages slated for demolition, effectively rendering the imminent pullout impossible. According to the plan, tens of thousands of people would begin marching at dawn, overpowering any opposition and preventing the with-
drawal from happening. This, organizers hoped, would be the nail in the coffin for Sharon’s designs and would keep Gush Katif in Israeli hands forever. Yet Prime Minister Sharon had other plans. After being warned by security forces that it would not be able to pull off the Disengagement if even half of the masses succeeded in reaching the Gush Katif settlements, Sharon ordered the military to stop them by any means possible. On July 19, 2005, the demonstrators awoke to the surreal site. No less than 20,000 IDF soldiers and police officers stood between them and the Gaza border. Armed to the teeth, they were given orders to stop the marchers “by any means possible,” includ-
ing live fire. Tensions swirled; both the military and Religious Zionist leaders refused to back down. All of the drama of the past year seemed to come down to this. One wrong move and Israel would be plunged into civil war. Yet, by late morning, the announcement went out. “Stand down. We’re going home!” Judea and Samaria Council head Pinchas Wallerstein ordered the shocked protesters. While being fully aware that dispersing the rally meant giving up their last chance to prevent the Disengagement, Religious Zionist rabbis and other leaders were resolute. “It’s better to lose than win and have the country fall apart,” asserted
a senior rabbi. “We’re not prepared to win at any price.”
PEOPLE BEFORE LAND A year earlier, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had declared his intention to forcibly expel 9,000 Jews who were living in the 17 villages sprawled throughout Gush Katif in Gaza. At first, the settlers didn’t take his declaration seriously; Israel was at the height of a bloody intifada that killed over 1,500 of its citizens and Sharon had just been reelected on the explicit promise that “there is no difference between Gaza and Tel Aviv.” Throughout his four decades in politics, Sharon had made a name for himself as the strongest proponent for establishing Jewish communities
