Israeli lawmaker Avichai Boaron (Likud) on Monday tabled a bill that would repeal the 2005 ban on Israeli civilians entering the Gaza Strip.
The proposed legislation seeks to cancel sections of the Disengagement Plan Implementation Law that have prohibited citizens from entering Gaza since the summer of 2005, when the Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dismantled all Jewish communities there, removing 8,000 residents and transferring them to Israeli territory.
“The war against fundamentalist Islam in the Gaza Strip must end with it losing control over the land. This is the most painful price it could pay, and this must be the result,” Boaron wrote in his explanatory notes.
“The entry ban is reminiscent of dark periods in the history of the Jewish people,” according to the coalition lawmaker.
“One of the first actions the Knesset should take today is to erase the terrible stain of a ‘no-entry zone for Jews’ in Gaza from Israel’s code of law, as it did regarding northern Samaria, and to allow full freedom of movement in the Strip, as in all areas of the Land of Israel,” he said.
Israel’s Arutz 7 noted that similar bills were tabled by MKs Amit Halevi (Likud Party) and Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit Party).
On Thursday, the Knesset Caucus for the Renewal of Settlement in Gaza is reportedly scheduled to hold a tour of the territory. The visit will be led by Har-Melech and Religious Zionism Party MK Zvi Sukkot, with the participation of other legislators and members of the Nachala Movement.
Earlier this year, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant approved the enactment of a bill that repealed parts of the Disengagement Law that barred Israelis from staying in Samaria communities evacuated in 2005.
The move came after the Knesset voted 31-18 to repeal parts of the bill banning Israelis from residing in the destroyed northern Samaria towns.
The 2005 disengagement led to the destruction and evacuation of the villages of Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim in northern Samaria, in addition to 21 Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip.
“The State of Israel began the recovery process from the deportation disaster,” Likud Party lawmaker Yuli Edelstein, who sponsored the bill, stated in March, adding: “This is the first significant step towards real healing and settlement in Israel’s historical territories that belong to it.”
However, in May, Netanyahu ruled out plans to return to the Strip.
“If you mean resettling Gaza ... it was never in the cards, and I said so openly,” he said. “Some of my constituents are not happy about it, but that’s my position.”
