The 21st anniversary of the dismantling and evacuation of the city of Yamit and neighboring communities in northwestern Sinai will be commemorated this afternoon in N'vei Dekalim, the "capital" of Israel's southern Mediterranean Coastal communities in Gush Katif. The ceremony will take place in the local hesder yeshiva, which was originally founded in Yamit. Following the signing of a peace agreement with Egypt in 1979, 17 communities were destroyed and some 5,000 residents were removed from their homes in 1981-2.
Nine years ago, on the 12th anniversary of the withdrawal from Sinai and shortly after the Oslo Agreement was signed, then opposition-MK Ariel Sharon - who in 1982 served as Israel's Defense Minister and oversaw the destruction of Yamit - said the following:
"Every re-location of a point of settlement is a very difficult thing, and I would like to note and emphasize that, in light of what is going on now, and in light of the government's attempt to use what happened in Sinai as a precedent for what it wants to do now in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and the Golan, i.e., the dismantling of communities - this shows that it was a very bad mistake to decide on the dismantling of the communities. Because we see now where this is leading to. In light of what happened since - it was very hard at the time, but no one ever thought that an Israeli government would arise and use the precedent of Sinai, which occurred in totally different circumstances, to justify the dismantling of communities in the Golan or Yesha. In light of this, I must say that what we did then was a mistake, seeing that this is where it led to."
Nine years ago, on the 12th anniversary of the withdrawal from Sinai and shortly after the Oslo Agreement was signed, then opposition-MK Ariel Sharon - who in 1982 served as Israel's Defense Minister and oversaw the destruction of Yamit - said the following:
"Every re-location of a point of settlement is a very difficult thing, and I would like to note and emphasize that, in light of what is going on now, and in light of the government's attempt to use what happened in Sinai as a precedent for what it wants to do now in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and the Golan, i.e., the dismantling of communities - this shows that it was a very bad mistake to decide on the dismantling of the communities. Because we see now where this is leading to. In light of what happened since - it was very hard at the time, but no one ever thought that an Israeli government would arise and use the precedent of Sinai, which occurred in totally different circumstances, to justify the dismantling of communities in the Golan or Yesha. In light of this, I must say that what we did then was a mistake, seeing that this is where it led to."