Israel took a gamble in 2005 — staking national security, ideology, and an entire way of life on the hope of peace.

That August, under the Disengagement Plan launched by then prime minister Ariel Sharon — a former general once regarded as the patron of the settlement movement — Israel carried out a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Soldiers were deployed not to defend territory, but to uproot their own citizens.

Within days, 21 Jewish communities were abandoned. Roughly 10,000 Israelis were evacuated from their homes by their own army. Graves were exhumed, and synagogues were boarded up. In an extraordinary gesture, Israel left behind flourishing agricultural infrastructure worth millions, hoping it would provide Palestinians with the foundation for prosperity.

The move marked

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