I always had thought that the Gaza "disengagement" plan proposed by Ariel Sharon was meant to push the idea of a Palestinian state into the background, allow Israel to tighten its hold on the West Bank, and facilitate the building of new settlements.

I accepted that the political limits inside Israel meant that Sharon could take 8,000 settlers out of Gaza, and that he would need to split from the settler movement and the radical right-wing Likud party to do it. This has happened.

Stavro

The Gaza Strip and West Bank are no longer considered one territorial unit .Though it has disengaged Israel continues to have effective control of the Gaza Strip and has become in effect a giant prison for Palestinians .That indicates that the occupation of the Gaza Strip has not really ceased. As Amira Hass says:

Israel ...displays its very real, not merely effective, control of the right of movement of the Gazans and all their civil rights that are derived from it, such as the right to study and the right to get medical treatment.

And Israel continues to jack up the rhetoric against Iran as it draws up plans to attack Iran's suspected nuclear sites; plans that are tacitly supported by the US.