Only One Precedent
Reader comment on item: The Forcible Removal of Israelis from Gaza

Submitted by Elisha Ignatoff (United States), Apr 12, 2005 at 09:59

You would need to verify this; but perhaps the only precedent was the forcible removal of Jewish settlers from their communities in the Sinai in the context of the Egyptian/Israeli peace accord.

Like all precedents (even the eminent domain examples) there will be similarities and differences.

Seizure for eminent domain is always justified in terms of "the public good"/"the good of the community as a whole", and that is the justification offered here. Whether it is an effective or worthwhile policy is a different and open question. One would be hard pressed to justify the destruction of neighborhoods and the balkanization of the Bronx if all one has to show as the product of that sacrifice is the Cross Bronx Expressway (routinely voted, by professional drivers-in national surveys, as one of the worst stretches of highway in the United States)...


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