Articles and Studies

It is very difficult to concentrate on one direction while preparing this paper and it is almost impossible to take all the effective factors in consideration, while doing so. The question of violence is vague particularly in the Gaza Strip.  This part of the world, which has been always subject to invasions, in this short paper I will try to give an overview of this small part of the historical Palestine, from different angels so that one can understand the roots of the problem and the psychology of the people. Then I will translate some paragraphs from different speeches of the first Prime Minister of the Palestinian Autority Mr. M. Abbas, in which he clarify what missing, what need to be done, and the way to do it. In my opinion, it is self explanatory, that if he was band from doing what he promised then he should resign, the question, Who prevented him from achieving his goals? And Why it is related to the violence and terrorism, so it leads to the wider circle of questions of Who, and Why. Some times, it is much better to limit the legitimate questions that one can stay sane and/or safe.         

 

The Gaza Strip

a)    Geography

The Gaza Strip is a roughly rectangular coastal area on the eastern Mediterranean, 28 miles long, 4.3 miles wide at its northern end, 7.8 miles wide at its southern end, and 3.4 miles wide at its narrowest point. It encompasses a total area of approximately 140 square miles.  Bordered by Israel on the North and east, Egypt on the south and the Mediterranean Sea on the West, the Strip's geographical boundaries have remained virtually unchanged since its creation in 1948 but the Israeli forces had created several settlements on this small part taking more than 1/3 of the land for settlement of Israeli settlers.

 

b)    Demography:

The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated regions in the world.  By 2002, it was home to about 1.250.000 people, the overview-whelming majority of whom (99 percent) are Sunni Muslim Arabs.  There is also a tiny minority of Arab Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox.  About 70 percent of Gazans-875,000 people – are refugees of the 1948 war and their descendants.  Over half of the refugees still live in camps, the reminder reside in local villages and towns.  The annual population growth rate in Gaza is 4 percent, one of the highest in the developing world.

 

c)     History

In the fifty five years since it became an internationally recognized entity, the Gaza Strip has been called " the forgotten man of the Middle East," " the stepchild of the West Bank," "the black hole of the Arab World," and " Israel's collective punishment."  Since its creation, this tiny, artificial entity has known only one political reality, occupation

The Gaza Strip is the only part of Mandatory Palestine that was never incorporated into a sovereign state, and no Arab nation has ever claimed it as its own.  Yet Gaza has remained a critical part of the Palestinian – Israeli conflict Gaza was where the All-Palestine Government was established in 1948, where the Palestinian uprising (intifada) began in 1987, and where limited self-rule for the occupied territories began in 1994.

Gaza provides a stark clarification of the intentions as well as the consequences of Israeli policy.

In the earliest available reference to Gaza, it is described as a Canaanite city-state dating from 3200B.C. making it one of the oldest cities in the world.  Gaza's present debilitation seems antithetic and paradoxical when viewed against its remarkable history of resilience and growth.  The city of Gaza experienced a continuous succession of conquerors and occupiers beginning with the Egyptian Pharaohs and ending with the Israeli army.  From its ancient beginnings down to the present day, the city of Gaza has been attacked and destroyed, and its population enslaved and expelled, by a succession of invaders- Assyrians,   Persians, Romans, Muslims, Ottomans, British, and Israelis, struggling for its control.

 

1.     Assyrians

The Assyrian invasions began in 742 BC with the campaigns of Tiglath-pileser III whose initial target was control of the trade from the Phoenician ports of Byblos, Arvad, Sidon and Tyre, on the Mediterranean.  Once Assyrian rule over those cities was established, Philistia became the next target.  In 720 BC Sargon suppressed the rebellion in the West then defeated the coalition in central Syria before turning south towards Gaza crushing all of Philistia on the way.  Raphiah (Rafah) was taken and then Gaza was doomed.  The city offered no resistance. 

 

2.     Babylonians

It appears that further battle occurred in Philistia between the Babylonians and the Egyptians.  Given the location of Gaza, it is safe to assume that the city became a pawn in the hands of the two great powers.  The great Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II undertook several campaigns in the south between 604 and 586 BC to establish authority.  Gaza came under Babylonian control in 601BC, subdued yet again by an army on the move.  It is thought that a great battle between the Babylonians and the Egyptians took place on the Gaza plain in that year.  Documents of a later period indicate the likelihood that Gaza became, for the Babylonians, a garrison town at that time-as it has for other foreign armies so often in its history.