Party formed to repeal disengagement law in Gush Katif

A party was formed on Thursday to repeal the disengagement law in Gush Katif, and a bill proposal on the matter will be submitted at the opening of the next Knesset session.

The party, which was given the name "Civil Parliamentary Working Group," was formed by Knesset Members Amit Halevi and Ariel Kallner from Likud, MK Zvi Sukkot from the Religious Zionism party, and Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan.

The disengagement law, approved in 2005, led to the dismantlement of the Gush Katif settlement in the Gaza Strip. 

This new bill to be proposed follows the law passed in March repealing the disengagement in northern Samaria.

"At the start of the war, there was an attempt to submit the bill, but it was not promoted for a vote in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. Now, the Civil Parliamentary Working Group has been formed, and it has begun to work to gather broad support from Knesset members. Immediately with the opening of the session, the joint working group will submit the bill with broad support," the group members stated.

Dagan explained, "The disengagement led to the disaster of October 7."

Learning lessons from October 7 

"Just as we returned to Homesh, we need to return to Gush Katif and the northern Gaza Strip first. We need to take land, and this is the real response that will also be a clear victory image and also a real deterrent against our barbaric Nazi enemies," Dagan added.

Dagan also noted that the bill does not say to establish any settlements in the area. Instead, it makes a statement  that "this racist law, which forbids Jews from being in an area in the Land of Israel, should be repealed."

Halevi added, "The first law that needed to be corrected after October 7 is the Disengagement Law, to clarify to ourselves and the world that the Gaza Strip is an inseparable part of our homeland and that there will be no Judenrein areas in our homeland—areas prohibited to Jewish residence. These sections of this law are a moral stain in Israel's legal code, and we will remove it together as soon as possible."

MK Ariel Kallner referred to the law as a disgrace and said, "Erasing the disgrace and crime of the expulsion from Gush Katif and turning parts of the Land of Israel into Jew-free zones is our [Civil Parliamentary Working Group] commitment.