Between August and October 2005 Palestinians and their supporters expressed fears that the Israeli pullout from Gaza would give Ariel Sharon the cover he'd need to expand settlement construction in the West Bank. They were essentially accusing Sharon of magic tricks: "look at the pretty lady on the left side of the stage while I pull some strings over here on the right." Here's a Palestinian MP on August 12, 2005, one month before the final departure of the last settlers:

"Many Palestinians believe Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's pullout from Gaza is a ploy to divert attention from the strengthening of settlements in the West Bank and around Jerusalem.

'Sharon's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is a smokescreen, because he is consolidating settlement activity in the West Bank and completely modifying the demographic and cultural make-up of Jerusalem,' said independent Palestinian MP Hanan Ashrawi.

She argued that leaving Gaza is a small price to pay for Israel if it gives it a free hand to tighten its grip on the rest of the occupied territories.

'The Gaza Strip was a demographic and security burden for Israel. By withdrawing from it unilaterally, Sharon is turning it into a large prison and imposes on us a long transition period,' Ashrawi told Agence France-Presse."

In fact, Sharon himself said as much in the process of placating Likudniks opposed to the Gaza withdrawal. The rationale was that if Gaza must be given up (and who wants that human disaster anyway, right?) then at least the West Bank would be for the taking. Here is AP on August 26, 2005:

"Sharon has repeatedly said the withdrawal would help consolidate Israel's control over large settlement blocs in the West Bank, where the vast majority of Jewish settlers live. New figures from the Interior Ministry show robust growth in these blocs."

At the time, the US position was clear. The following is from an AP report from August 4, 2005:

"But during a meeting with Sharon this year, Bush said he opposed any new settlement construction, even in existing communities, as a violation of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan."

Here's AP again on September 6, 2005:

"The United States has urged Israel not to expand West Bank settlements, in line with a construction freeze under the internationally backed "road map" peace plan. However, in selling the Gaza pullout to his public, Sharon has said it would allow Israel to strengthen its hold over Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank.

[...]

"We've been clear with the Israelis on their obligations under the 'road map' and President Bush has specifically called on the Israelis not only to remove illegal outposts but to stop settlement expansion," U.S. Embassy spokesman Stewart Tuttle said Tuesday."

And yet, despite Sharon's widely reported statements to Likudniks, despite the public fears of many Palestinians, the Gaza pullout was heralded as a success. Progress on West Bank settlements and a peace deal could not be far off! Now that Sharon had made such a historic first move, the onus was entirely on the Palestinians to make peace happen - with the implication that any (inevitable) failure would be their fault. Here are excerpts from letters to the editor in response to an August 15, 2005 editorial in The New York Times that speculated that the Gaza disengagement plan would have...the exact effect that its architects had been saying it would have:

"At the moment of Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, it seems that only the Israelis are willing to make sacrifices for peace, while the Palestinian "troublemakers" like Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas continue to attack civilians."

"Mr. Sharon is proceeding bravely with a painful withdrawal without Palestinian reciprocity. In the meantime, in sharp contrast to Mr. Sharon's resolute leadership, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, shows great weakness by appeasing terrorist groups intent on creating a separate Palestinian authority. It is up to Mr. Abbas, not Mr. Sharon, to make the next move."

As usual, ADL offers the most extensive denial:

"Your assertion that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel is using the Gaza disengagement to deflect international pressure to make West Bank territorial concessions is belied by the prime minister's own statements.

Indeed, an Aug. 13 news article cites an interview that Mr. Sharon gave to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot in which he said that Israel might eventually have to give up additional Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

With Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, the onus is now on the Palestinian Authority to assert order, clamp down on terrorist operations and govern responsibly."

And of course, ADL was right. Settlements in the West Bank have not grown. The Bush administration applied the pressure necessary to uphold their public statements in complete opposition to expanded West Bank settlement construction. Except...what was it that I read the other day? Oh, right:

"When Israel signed on to the so-called road map for a two-state solution in 2003, with a provision that says its government “freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements),” the officials said, it did so after a detailed discussion with Bush administration officials that laid out those explicit exceptions.

“Not everything is written down,” one of the officials said.

He and others said that Israel agreed to the road map and to move ahead with the removal of settlements and soldiers from Gaza in 2005 on the understanding that settlement growth could continue."

So it turns out that in reality, the Gaza pullout was indeed a smokescreen to distract from continued West Bank settlement construction. And not only that, but the Bush administration's public opposition to West Bank settlement growth was a bald-faced lie. Bush had actually made a private agreement with the Israeli leadership that allowed for the very construction he claimed to oppose. And yet, in 2005 Israel supporters fervently argued that the Gaza disengagement was a critical first step (made entirely in good-faith) to a long-term peace plan. They urged us to ignore Ariel Sharon's words, dismiss Palestinian fears as so much conspiracy theorizing, and offered Bush's opposition to settlement building as a check on any expansionist Likudnik desires. Well, that worked out well.