Lately, I have gotten into so many discussions, with people having varying opinions, about the recent conflict surrounding Gaza. What surprised me was how little knowledge many people have about the history of the area.
Since I try my best to avoid politics in my blogs (one rarely convinces a person holding an opposing view) I thought that rather than share my views, I would simply re-print some information from Wikipedia and from the Associated Press.
People are left to form their own opinions:
The
Gaza Strip (
/ˈɡɑːzəˈstrɪp/;
[1]
Arabic:
قطاع غزة
Qiṭāʿ
Ġazzah [qɪˈtˤɑːʕ ˈɣazza]), or
simply
Gaza, is an
exclave region of
Palestine on the eastern coast of the
Mediterranean
Sea that borders
Egypt
on the southwest for 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) and
Israel on the east
and north along a 51 km (32 mi) border. Gaza makes up part of the
Palestinian territories which includes the
West Bank
and in 2012, the
United Nations General Assembly
"accorded Palestine non-Member Observer State status in the United
Nations".
[2]
In 1994,
Israel
granted the right of self-governance to Gaza through the
Palestinian Authority. Prior to this, Gaza
had been subject to
military occupation, most recently by Israel
(1967–94) and by
Egypt
(1948–67), and earlier by
Great Britain (1918–48) and
Turkey when Gaza
had been part of the
Ottoman Empire. Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been
de-facto
governed by
Hamas, a
Palestinian group claiming to be the
representatives of the
Palestinian National Authority and
the Palestinian people. Gaza forms a part of the Palestinian territory defined
in the
Oslo Agreements and
UNSC Resolution 1860.
[3]
The Gaza Strip acquired its current northern and eastern boundaries at the
cessation of fighting in the
1948 war, confirmed by the
Israel–Egypt Armistice Agreement on 24
February 1949.
[8]
Article V of the Agreement declared that the demarcation line was not to be an
international border. At first the Gaza Strip was officially administered by
the
All-Palestine Government, established by
the
Arab
League in September 1948. All-Palestine in the Gaza Strip was managed under
the military authority of Egypt, functioning as puppet state, until it
officially merged into the
United Arab Republic and dissolved in 1959.
From the time of the dissolution of the All-Palestine Government until 1967,
the Gaza Strip was directly administered by an Egyptian military governor.
Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the
Six-Day War
in 1967. Pursuant to the
Oslo Accords signed in 1993, the
Palestinian Authority became the
administrative body that governed Palestinian population centers while Israel
maintained control of the
airspace,
territorial waters and border crossings with the
exception of the land border with Egypt. In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza
Strip under
their unilateral disengagement
plan. In July 2007, following the
2006 Palestinian legislative
election and the
Hamas takeover in 2007,
Hamas had functioned
as the
de facto ruler in the Gaza Strip, forming an alternative
Hamas Government in Gaza.
In 2014, following
reconciliation talks, Hamas and Fatah
formed a
Palestinian unity government within
the
State of Palestine.
Rami
Hamdallah became the coalition's Prime Minister and has planned for
elections in Gaza and the
West Bank.
[9]
In July 2014, a set of lethal incidents between Hamas and Israel led to the
Israeli military launching
Operation Protective Edge.
Today’s News: (8/8/14)
Israel resumed strikes on targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire from
the area shortly after the expiration of a cease-fire between Israel and the
terror group Hamas, Israeli military officials said Friday.
The renewed violence threw the Cairo talks on a broader deal into doubt.
Hamas officials said they are ready to continue talks, but Israel's government
spokesman said Israel will not negotiate under fire.
Hamas wants Israel to open Gaza's borders, following a seven-year closure
also enforced by Egypt, but Israel says it will only do so if the Islamic
militants disarm or are prevented from re-arming. Hamas has insisted it will
never give up its arms.
The rockets appeared to have been an attempt by Hamas to exert pressure on
Israel without triggering a major escalation. Smaller Gaza groups claimed
responsibility, while there was no word from Hamas rocket squads.
However, Israel said it will not negotiate under such terms.
"When Hamas broke the cease-fire, when Hamas launched rockets and
mortar shells at Israel, they broke the premise of the talks," said
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev, adding that "there will not be
negotiations under fire."
Israel and Egypt
imposed the blockade after the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007, and have since
enforced it to varying degrees.
The closure led to widespread
hardship in the Mediterranean seaside territory, home to 1.8 million people.
Movement in and out of Gaza is limited, the economy has ground to a standstill
and unemployment is over 50 percent.
Israel argues that it needs to keep
Gaza's borders under a blockade as long as Hamas tries to smuggle weapons into
Gaza or manufactures them there.
The militant group has said it is
willing to hand over some power in Gaza to enable its long-time rival,
Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to lead reconstruction
efforts, but that it would not give up its arsenal and control over thousands
of armed men.
The Gaza war grew out of the killing
of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June. Israel blamed the killings on
Hamas and launched a massive arrest campaign, rounding up hundreds of the
group's members in the West Bank, as Hamas and other militants unleashed rocket
fire from Gaza.
The Associated Press contributed to
this report.
