What is the status of Gaza?
The Gaza Strip is home to 1.5 million Palestinians. Until 2005, there were approximately 8,000 Israeli civilians living in a number of communities in the Gaza Strip and a significant Israeli military presence. In the summer of 2005, Israel withdrew all its civilians, dismantled the settlements and removed all its military forces. By doing so, it hoped to create conditions on the ground more conducive to a two-state solution. In November 2005, it signed an agreement with Palestinian President Abbas which put the Gaza Strip’s borders with Egypt and Israel under Palestinian control. This was the first time in history that Palestinians had managed their own borders. The agreement also included plans for the development of a seaport and an airport for the Gaza Strip. After the election of Hamas the agreement broke down. In 2007, a short-lived Palestinian unity government between Hamas and Fatah collapsed, with Hamas ousting Fatah and taking complete control of the Gaza Strip. As Hamas has u
The Gaza Strip is a small strip of territory on the Mediterranean coast which borders Israel and Egypt and is home to 1.5 million Palestinians. Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan, which proposed the creation of a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine, it was supposed to become part of the Arab state. However, after Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, it came under Egyptian military occupation. The territory was captured by Israel from Egypt in the 1967 Six Day War. Between 1967 and 2005 approximately 8,000 Israeli civilians established communities in the Gaza Strip. In the summer of 2005, Israel withdrew all its civilians, dismantled the settlements and removed all its military forces. In November 2005, Israel signed the Agreement on Movement and Access with Palestinian President Abbas which put the Gaza Strip’s borders with Egypt and Israel under Palestinian control. This was the first time in history that Palestinians had managed their own borders. The agreement also included plans t
