A frustrating event that left a feeling that it was all for nothing - by Mati Tuchfeld

..."If the disengagement from Gaza contributed anything to history, it did so by proving that terrorism has nothing to do with the settlement enterprise, but there was no such advantage in northern Samaria. There was no advantage to this eviction. None. Zero. Nothing has changed for the better there. It had no added value to security or to anything else. It was a frustrating event that left a feeling that it was all for nothing."

Mati Tuchfeld..
Israel Hayom..
16 June '17..

Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yair Naveh retired from the Israel Defense Forces nearly three years ago. His last role was as IDF deputy chief of staff, but he is most remembered for his role as the GOC Central Command who was involved in the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

In the unilateral disengagement from the coastal enclave, Israel evicted Gush Katif, a bloc of 17 communities in southern Gaza, and pulled back to its 1967 border with the Gaza Strip. It also evicted four secluded settlements in northern Samaria. The disengagement, during which 8,600 Israelis lost their homes, remains highly controversial to this day, as many believe it is directly linked to the increased terrorist activity and rocket fire emanating from Gaza since then.

As head of Central Command, Naveh oversaw the eviction of the northern Samaria communities of Kadim, Ganim, Homesh and Sa-Nur. The operation was far smaller and less dramatic than in Gush Katif, but Naveh's membership in the national-religious sector presented him with a personal challenge.

Twelve years on, as a group of coalition lawmakers plan to introduce legislation that would allow the residents of the four Samaria settlements evicted in 2005 to re-establish their communities, Naveh says the unilateral disengagement from Gaza was a mistake, telling Israel Hayom that reality has proved the move failed to generate any security or diplomatic advantage for Israel.

He also believes that Israel should seriously consider turning back the clock for two of the Samarian settlements, Homesh, northwest of Nablus, and Sa-Nur, northwest of Jenin, as repopulating them could serve Israel's security interests.

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