Excerpt from Israel's Revised Disengagement Plan—Main Principles
(June 6, 2004)

Published by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office

"The purpose of the plan is to lead to a better security, political, economic and demographic situation."

By the early 2000s, relations between the state of Israel and Palestinians living in territories occupied by Israel had once again deteriorated. Despite several peace conferences and numerous rounds of negotiations, despite signed resolutions and accords (formal agreements), Israelis and Palestinians could not establish and maintain peace between them. In 2000, Palestinians once again erupted in sustained popular violence against both Israel and the ineffective Palestinian administration in the Occupied Territories (areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip taken over by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967). The Second Intifada, or uprising,...