Netzarim, just before Disengagement
Netzarim, just before DisengagementIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar participated in an event commemorating the ninth anniversary of the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza. The event took place at the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem.

Speaking at the event Sunday evening, Sa'ar, in comments aimed at Prime Minister Biyamin Netanyahu, said that Israel “cannot remove the blockade around Gaza as long as the Hamas terror authority is ruling there. Just the opposite,” he said. “We need to strengthen the blockade.”

Israel's tragic error leading to the current war could be traced directly back to the Disengagement, Sa'ar said. “There can be no security without settlement,” Sa'ar said. “The basic right of Israel to its land is directly tied to Israel's security in the land. Where there is no settlement the IDF does not go, and where the IDF does not go the terrorists take over. We have now seen how the removal of Gush Katif has harmed the security of Israelis, from the south to the center of the country.”

Gush Katif settlers, he said, were a “protective wall” for all of Israel against terror attacks. “Terror has not dissipated since the Disengagement; it has increased. Settlement in Judea and Samaria is the protective belt for the center of the country, and it must be assisted and encouraged. We cannot establish yet another terror state in the Land of Israel,” he added. “A Palestinian state would be a great danger to Israel."