Transportation and Intelligence Affairs Minister Yisrael Katz has been trying for the past three years to promote what he considers to be a creative response to the decade-long Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and a measure to prevent yet another round of fighting with Hamas. 

Katz's plan for a so-called civil separation from neighboring Gaza is essentially a sequel to the 2005 Israeli withdrawal from the territory orchestrated by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that saw Israel pull all its settlers and troops out of the coastal enclave. The central idea of the Katz plan is for an internationally funded, artificial island to be built near the Gaza coast. Katz believes that the construction of such an island could be used to open Gaza to international commerce and result in a true Israeli separation from Gaza, as Sharon would have wished.

The island would serve as a sea trade port for Gaza residents. Ships would unload their cargo there, and after an inspection for weapons or weapons-grade material, the crates would be shipped on small vessels for the short onward journey to their destination. In Katz’s view, this would enable economic transportation links for the blockaded residents and at the same time protect Israel’s security interests.

The proposed island would also house power and water purification infrastructure, for which Gaza is dependent on Israel to a certain extent. Katz believes that once completed, the project would relieve Israel of a heavy moral responsibility and burden of the Palestinians in Gaza, which was under Israeli occupation for 38 years and for which Israel is still responsible under international law even after its 2005 pullout.