Didn Israel unilaterally withdraw from Lebanon and Gaza?
Yes, Israel withdrew its troops from south Lebanon in May 2000, and unilaterally uprooted its presence in the Gaza strip including settlements in August 2005. Polls at the time demonstrated that both redeployments had the support of the majority of Israelis. In light of the attacks from Gaza and southern Lebanon, however, there has been much discussion in the Israeli media about the impact and prudence of those redeployments. Clearly, the fear expressed by critics of the withdrawals that Israel will appear to be weakening in its resolve in the face of terror and that the lesson for Hezbollah and Hamas is that terror works resonates. In the case of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, there have been many Kassam rocket attacks on Israel’s south, and particularly on the town of Sderot since last summer’s disengagement. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that the steep rise in rocket attacks is only in comparison to the period leading up to the withdrawal, which was quiet because Hamas didn’t
