Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
willing to leave the Gaza Strip did so. Removal by force began on August 17. About 14,000 IDF
soldiers and Israeli police were deployed to ensure that the transition went smoothly. By Au-
gust 22 the last residents remaining in the settlement of Netzarim left. Demolition crews began
destroying the homes in the settlements. The evacuation of four settlements in the northern
West Bank was carried out on August 23. The last IDF forces left the Gaza Strip on Septem-
ber 12, 2005.
With the lesson of the Rabin assassination in sharp focus and with all groups determined
to avoid violence, the evacuation of the Gaza settlements passed without serious incident. This
became a point of pride for Israeli society because it showed continued strength and unity.
Formation of the Kadima Party
The withdrawal issue had deeply disrupted the Likud's unity and Sharon's leadership of that
party. The last straw was when Sharon tried to appoint two of his allies, Ze'ev Boim and Roni
Bar-On, as ministers. The Knesset rejected these appointments in a vote of sixty to fi fty-four,
with Likud ministers who had opposed disengagement voting with the opposition. Then, on
November 20, 2005, Sharon announced that he was leaving the Likud because of the infi ghting
and would form a new centrist party, later named Kadima. Thirteen Likud ministers joined
him, as did several senior Labor Party members, including Shimon Peres, Dalia Itzik, and
Haim Ramon, as well as Shinui's Uriel Reichman, lending credibility to and broadening the
appeal of the Kadima Party.
Events within the Labor Party the same month had sparked the defections. The chair of the
Histadrut trade union, Amir Peretz, who replaced Shimon Peres as party leader, had pushed
aside many of the party's veterans. Peretz had tried to force early elections by resigning from
the government on November 21, the day after Sharon's announcement. Within Likud, Netan-
yahu was elected to replace Sharon as chair in December.
A new national election was scheduled for March 28, 2006. From the outset, Sharon's new
party was ahead in the polls. On December 18, 2005, however, Sharon had a stroke. Two days
later he was released from the hospital, but on January 4, 2006, he suffered a second stroke,
which left him in a coma. Minister of Finance Ehud Olmert took over as acting prime minis-
ter. The election campaign proceeded as scheduled, with Olmert as Kadima's leader; and sup-
port for Kadima in the opinion polls remained steady. By mid-January, Kadima was the only
party in the cabinet. Netanyahu had convinced the four Likud ministers to resign in protest
over the government's policies.
The election campaign in Israel for the March 28 elections was notably restrained. The
Labor Party's campaign was based almost exclusively on social and economic issues, Peretz's
main interest. Likud focused on warning that more unilateral withdrawals would damage Is-
rael's security. During the campaign, Olmert announced that if elected, he would carry out a
second unilateral withdrawal and removal of some Jewish settlements on the West Bank, which
he called the convergence plan. He proposed retaining under Israeli control only about 10
percent of the West Bank as a security zone, including the three main settlement blocs — Gush
Etzion (south of Jerusalem), Ma'ale Adumim (just east of Jerusalem), Ariel (east of Tel Aviv
and north of Jerusalem)— and the Jordan Valley.
