INDEPTH: MIDDLE EAST
The Gaza Strip: A history
CBC News Online | Updated November 15, 2005
The Gaza Strip measures 40 km long and eight km wide and is located at the southeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, between the Sinai Peninsula on the west and Israel on the south and east.
Its largest urban centre remains the ancient Gaza City, held through history by Persia, Egypt, Syria, Babylonia, Israel, the Romans, the Hellenic state, the Ottomans and the British.
Gaza is where the tomb of Samson is found, as well as the tomb of Hashim, the great-grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad.
Around 1.2 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, the majority of them refugees who fled Israel in 1948, and their descendents. About 40 per cent of Gazans commute daily to jobs in Israel.
1949
A splinter of territory comes under Egyptian military rule following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It lies between the borders of Egypt and Israel as defined by the ceasefire lines. Egypt proclaims the strip held in trust for the Palestine Arabs.
1956
Following the Suez-Sinai War (in which Egypt fought Israel, France and England), the Gaza Strip is occupied by Israel, but it withdraws its troops in 1957 as a result of international pressure.
1957
The Gaza Strip is placed under a UN emergency force. Egypt regains control of the civil administration of the strip.
1967
Israel recaptures the strip during the Arab-Israeli war of June 1967, called the Six-Day War.
Israel doesn't annex or incorporate the West Bank and Gaza into Israel proper.
UN Security Council Resolution 242 calls for Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and other territories.
Conflicts over how Israel should withdraw from the territories it had captured proved to impede peace negotiations between Israel and Arab states.
1970
One of the first Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip is Kfar Darom in 1970. In 1972, Netzarim
is built up.
The Israeli government continues to build settlements in the Gaza Strip during the 1970s and 1980s. The increasing Jewish presence ignites Palestinian activism and helps to motivate several militant groups. Riots become commonplace and confrontations between Israelis and Palestinians became more violent.
1987
Hamas, a radical Islamic organization operating mainly in the Gaza Strip, is formed. That same year sees the beginning of the first Palestinian intefadeh, which lasted until 1993.
Unlike the second intefadeh, this one was limited to attacks by street youth throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. The fighting slowly graduates to the use of Molotov cocktail attacks and hand grenades. Various reasons are given for this uprising; many suggest the impoverished economy is a driving force, as well as the increased restrictions placed on Palestinians by the Israeli government.
1993
The Oslo Accords, signed in Washington, D.C., put in place a peace process aimed at ending the intefadeh and resolving the situation between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli government.
The accords inaugurated the Palestinian National Authority and called for the handover of some land to Palestinian control.
1994
By mid-1994 Israel has withdrawn most of its troops from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority assumes administrative control of the region; there is a reduction in violence.
1995
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, continue to thwart the peace process and order a series of suicide bombings against Jews in the Gaza Strip. Israel retaliates by disallowing thousands of Gazans from working in Israel. Israel and the Palestinian Authority sign a second peace agreement.
1996
Negotiations take place to discuss the permanent transfer of power in Gaza to the Authority, but fail to end conclusively. Talks are interrupted by Israeli elections.
2000
Camp David Summit hopes to push ahead peace in the troubled region, but Israeli settlers and Palestinians engage in a new round of intense fighting, which leads to the second intefadeh, called the al-Aqsa intefadeh. Hamas steps up its attacks on Israeli targets.
2001
The Gaza Strip becomes the centre for violent clashes. Israeli helicopters attack Palestinian targets in Gaza, and Israeli tanks briefly invaded a refugee camps in Khan Younis and Beit Hanoun in the north in April 2001, and Rafah in the south in July 2001.
The intefadeh has made the Gaza Strip the target for attacks by Israeli forces, which in turn fuels more terrorist attacks on Israelis. Curfews are placed on Palestinian-controlled towns and villages, and security at checkpoints is increased.
These restrictive measures are blamed for the 40 per cent unemployment in the Gaza Strip and a weakened economy. About 60 per cent of the population is said to be living under the poverty line.
The last three years have claimed the lives of more than 3,300 people and caused injury to more than 24,000 people on both sides.
2004
The Palestinian National Security Council declares a state of emergency in the Gaza following a wave of kidnappings.
Israel's parliament approves a plan to withdraw Israeli troops and settlements from the Gaza Strip starting in the spring of 2005. The plan also called for the abandonment of four settlements in the West Bank. About 8,800 Jewish settlers would have to leave their homes.
2005
Israel continues its plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank
settlements in mid-August. Israel plans to maintain control of Gaza's borders,
coastline and airspace. Families forced to leave can receive financial compensation,
but those who refuse will not. Israeli Housing Minister Isaac Herzog estimates
about half of the settlers will likely try to stay.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has the support of his government, but the Israeli
public remains divided. Jewish settlers who refuse to leave by the proposed
deadline will be forcefully removed by the Israeli Army. Many soldiers disagree
with the plan. One soldier was jailed for refusing to take part.
Palestinian security forces were initially excluded from participating in
the removal until mid-June. Settlers promise fierce resistance in a series
of planned protests as the deadline draws near. Many believe they can't prevent
the pullout, but are intent on making the move a difficult process.
In mid-August, opponents of the withdrawal stage a series of protests. Thousands of people gather at the Western Wall, and at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.
By the end of August, all Israeli settlers have left the West Bank. On Sept. 12, 2005, Israeli troops leave the Gaza Strip, ending their 38-year presence in the area. Palestinians celebrate the troop withdrawal. Some of the synagogues remaining in the Strip are set on fire.
In mid-November, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announces that Israeli and Palestinian leaders have reached a deal on Gaza-Egypt border crossings, including a provision for guarded bus convoys between the West Bank and Gaza.
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