Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel visited the Gush Katif Museum in Jerusalem Tuesday.
For the first time since the 2005 Disengagement, the minister asked for forgiveness from the residents expelled from Gush Katif. "You have reached consensus and agreement, but we can only ask for forgiveness, because that is what we have to do. We must ask for forgiveness from these wonderful people who paid a heavy personal price in a move that only harmed the State of Israel," Gamliel said.
She mentioned that she was part of the 'rebel' faction in the Likud which fought against the disengagement. "They have delegitimized us both within the Knesset and in the media, and they have attacked us and called us extremists, and now we see who is right and who is wrong. There is understanding and internalization in both the government and the public that things like this will never happen again."
"It is possible to allow Jews to return to northern Samaria," Gamliel said. However, she added that "he Gush Katif bloc is very complicated security-wise, and I am not optimistic about the possibility of Jews returning there in the foreseeable future," she said.
The minister promised that within the framework of her ministry's program, senior citizens will visit the museum. "We will bring all the veteran citizens here to show them what they must never do, and we must remember that not only the evacuees have paid the price, but all the citizens of Israel, we see the terror, the balloons and the tunnels."
The minister noted that an initiative is currently being carried out by her office to document the heritage of Jewish settlement veterans and its founders in Judea and Samaria and will include the founders of Gush Katif and the Golan Heights communities.