While the desire to separate from Gaza was "logical," the disengagement itself led to Hamas's takeover of the Strip "due to the Palestinian Authority's weakness," said the Israeli president.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog believes the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip was a strategic error, he told Israel Hayom in an interview, an excerpt from which was published on Monday.
“It is clear to me now that the disengagement was a mistake. Not the desire to separate from two million Palestinians—that was logical—but the act itself, which, due to the Palestinian Authority’s weakness, led to a Hamas takeover in Gaza,” said the president.
Ahead of Israel’s 77th Independence Day, Herzog finds himself caught in the middle.