2005: Gaza withdrawal

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Settlements are knocked down as Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip

ISRAEL TIMELINE Overview 1948: The State of Israel is founded 1956: The Sinai campaign 1967: The Six-Day War 1973: October War 1977-1979: Egyptian-Israeli peace 1982: Lebanon invasion 1987: First Intifada 1993: Oslo agreement 2000: Second intifada 2005: Gaza withdrawal 2006: Lebanon war 2008: Israel now

By now, the former general Ariel Sharon was Israeli prime minister and he abandoned the policy he had followed all his life, that of holding onto the West Bank and Gaza at all costs.

Instead, he announced that Israel would leave the Gaza Strip and would build a wall and fence to defend itself against suicide bombers and separate the Palestinian territories from Israel.

The withdrawal went ahead, but Gaza later became the scene of a power struggle between the Palestinian Authority, representing the old guard of the secular PLO, and the newer Islamic-inspired forces of Hamas. Hamas prevailed.

The Oslo accord had all but disappeared.