An end to unilateralism

Israel’s disengagement from Gaza had plenty of nay-sayers at the time, people on both the right and left of Israeli politics who claimed the throw-the-keys-over-the-fence solution would never work. But events over last fall and early this spring – especially Olmert’s election as PM – seemed to indicate an Israeli electorate eager to continue with ...

607825_Gaza5.jpg
607825_Gaza5.jpg

Israel's disengagement from Gaza had plenty of nay-sayers at the time, people on both the right and left of Israeli politics who claimed the throw-the-keys-over-the-fence solution would never work. But events over last fall and early this spring - especially Olmert's election as PM - seemed to indicate an Israeli electorate eager to continue with the disengagement experiment. Now it's July. Israel is back in Gaza. It's pummeling Lebanon with air strikes. The peace process seems in tatters.

Israel’s disengagement from Gaza had plenty of nay-sayers at the time, people on both the right and left of Israeli politics who claimed the throw-the-keys-over-the-fence solution would never work. But events over last fall and early this spring – especially Olmert’s election as PM – seemed to indicate an Israeli electorate eager to continue with the disengagement experiment. Now it’s July. Israel is back in Gaza. It’s pummeling Lebanon with air strikes. The peace process seems in tatters.

So how did it all go so very wrong? In a new ForeignPolicy.com exclusive, Gershom Gorenberg, veteran journalist and author of the excellent new book, The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977, takes a look at how the disengagement plan jumped the tracks and argues that in order to salvage his original plan of withdrawal, Olmert must go much further in his future concessions to the Palestinians. Check it out. 

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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