On this day in 2005, Israel began evacuating its settlements from the Gaza Strip, in a historic event, as it had never evacuated land it seized since its occupation of historic Palestine in 1948.

Fifteen years have passed since Israel evacuated 21 settlements that used to occupy about 35% of the area of ​​the Gaza Strip, whose area does not exceed 360 square kilometers.

Thousands of Palestinians came out at that time with joy and hope for a better life, after 38 years of occupation of the small coastal enclave, which began with the defeat of June 1967. What has Gaza witnessed during these years?

Gaza, after the withdrawal of Israel, Israel
ended its actual presence on the ground, but it tightened its control over the joints of life in Gaza, and since its withdrawal, it has practiced all kinds of aggression and suffocation, through wars and military incursions, and a blockade that caused the collapse of many sectors over a period of 14 years.

Hamid Gad, the economic affairs editor for the local newspaper "Al-Ayyam" in Gaza, told Al-Jazeera Net that "Israel has redeployed in Gaza and has not actually withdrawn, as it is still controlling every small and big one."

As a result of the suffocating blockade imposed by Israel, its control of the sea and commercial crossings, its prevention of exports from the Strip except in the narrowest range, and the prevention of the entry of many goods, including raw materials, the economic conditions have seriously deteriorated; This damaged people's lives and made them despair and oppressive, says Gad.

He continued, "Israel did not withdraw from the Gaza Strip and leave it alone. Rather, it practiced all kinds of sanctions and aggression against it. Within 15 years of the withdrawal, it surrounded the Strip by land, sea and air, and waged 3 bloody and devastating wars against it."

During 15 years, Israel caused the collapse of many sectors in Gaza due to the blockade and 3 bloody wars (Reuters)

The Gaza Strip - home to two million people - suffers from cumulative crises related to electricity and water, and poverty and unemployment have reached unprecedented rates.

However, Jad sees a positive aspect in the areas vacated by the settlements, which have been adopted as agricultural projects, relatively compensating for the agricultural lands that have been uprooted by the so-called "security buffer zone", which Israel imposes with a depth of more than 300 meters, and a length of about 40 km along the security fence separating the east of the Strip. .

A professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, Mukhaimer Abu Saada, told Al-Jazeera Net that Israel is practicing every act that would suffocate Gaza and even kill it, through wars and blockades, without bearing the risks of staying on the ground.

He believed that Israel withdrew from Gaza, "which does not represent a strategic importance in the political and religious terms," ​​and has devoted itself to its most important battle in Jerusalem and the West Bank, through the intensification of settlements, and finally the "annexation plan", which effectively eliminates the Oslo agreement based on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders.

Israel found the appropriate environment of internal Palestinian division and disunity (Al-Jazeera)

Palestinian division
Abu Saada harshly criticized the performance of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian factions, and said that the retreat of the Palestinian issue, the absence of hope among the Palestinians and the rule of despair, Israel cannot bear alone, as it found the appropriate environment of internal Palestinian division and fragmentation.

The deputy in the Legislative Council for the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Atef Adwan, agrees with Abu Saada about the negative effects of the division, but he adds other factors that led to the failure to invest the Israeli withdrawal in favor of the Palestinian cause, most notably the case of Arab slack.

He told Al-Jazeera Net that the Palestinians are fighting alone, and the Arabs instead of supporting them are running towards Israel, the last of which is the UAE, whose agreement with Israel was described as shameful, and coincides with the strangulation and killing of Gaza, the Judaization of Jerusalem and the annexation plan in the West Bank.

The Palestinian resistance has shown courage in defending the dignity of Gaza and its people in the confrontations against the occupation (Al-Jazeera)

Despite the darkness of the scene, Adwan sees a bright side that Gaza achieved after the Israeli withdrawal, and its small size and weak capabilities give hope that Israel is not a destiny and not an invincible enemy.

He explained that Hamas has succeeded to a large extent, with the capabilities available to it despite the wars and siege; In developing the capabilities of the resistance and providing protection for it, which the enemy testifies before the friend, and it showed unrivaled courage in defending the dignity of Gaza and its people in all the confrontations it waged against the occupation.

Economically, Adwan said that investing the liberated lands (formerly settlements) in agricultural projects that achieved self-sufficiency in some crops is a successful experiment, but he realizes that it is not enough, and Israel remains the occupation force that hinders every attempt to have a better life in Gaza.