The Israelis and the Palestinians are not fighting over the Gaza Strip. There are
presently no Israelis living there and no Israeli military forces stationed there.
The area is presently governed by Hamas, a political/military entity listed by the
US State Department as an international terrorist organization, and with the
explicit, publicly expressed goal of destroying Israel. Weapons and ammunition
are constantly flowing into the area, from Sinai, through tunnels under the
border policed by Egypt, and from time to time, rockets are launched from
inside Gaza and land in civilian neighborhoods in nearby Israeli cities. Also
from time to time, Israel mounts a military operation designed both to take
rocket manufacturing and launching facilities out of operation, and to register
its disapproval of their use. Like, say, the US might do, if, say, rockets launched
from Tijuana were to rain down on residential neighborhoods in San Diego.
There are two simultaneous conflicts that are going on in Gaza and it is important to note the differences between these combatants and their goals.
Domestic Arena:
There is political infighting between different Palestinian Organizations. These organizations include Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and Fatah, all of which are considered terrorist organizations in the West, but actually have much more internal infrastructure and development than just inciting terror. They each have a constituent political party, entertainment division (which produces television and radio shows), and a welfare component. Each one has an agenda and direction in which it wants to take the Palestinian State. This conflict of interest became a full-out Civil War after the Palestinian Elections in the summer of 2006. This War led to the eviction of Fatah from the Gaza Strip and the beginning of a separate government in Gaza from that in the West Bank.
Hamas: Hamas sees its primary mission as the Restoration of Palestinian Glory and sees Israel as an enemy with which long-term peace is impossible. The Mission of the Organization is to unite all of the lands of the British Mandate of Palestine into one political unit. Hamas openly endorses suicide bombers and qassam rocket attacks as a way of achieving this goal. This leads to frequent and powerful Israeli retaliation and Palestinian suffering, which only further motivates Hamas.
Islamic Jihad: The Islamic Jihad sees its purpose primarily in the domestic context, although it, like Hamas, refuses to acknowledge Israel's Right to Exist. The Jihad focuses its efforts in conservatizing the Palestinian population and making them more receptive to "Proper Shariah" whose implementation is their goal. Contrary to Hamas and Fatah, who have no strong religious convictions (i.e. religion is an identifier not a belief system), the Jihad is interested in more religious Islamic Palestine. Christian Palestinians have often denounced the Jihad for its Islamicization of the Palestinian struggle which they believe belongs to all Palestinians.
Fatah: Fatah sees its primary mission to secure the stability for a Palestinian State. Therefore, they are willing to negotiate with Israel to bring that state into existence. For this, and because of their long grip on power, Fatah is seen by many Palestinians to be corrupt and not as interested in Palestine's future. Israel's support of Fatah, from among the Palestinian groups, does not help their credibility, but it has helped build their infrastructure. Fatah is also seen as powerless because it cannot stop the increasing amount of settlements in the West Bank whereas Hamas made settlements in Gaza undesirable.
International Arena:
The conflict between Gaza and Israel is a very sensitive topic where each side feels victimized by the other.
Gazan Perspective: Gazans feel that Israel is choking them off by allowing very minimal amounts of food, energy, and resources into Gaza. Boats form a blockade by sea, the checkpoints by land are monitored and Rafah, the crossing with Egypt, is monitored by the Egyptians in accordance with Israeli regulations. Palestinians in Gaza require Israel's consent to travel to and from Gaza, to take their goods to Palestinian and foreign markets, to acquire food and medicine, and to access water and electricity. Without Israel's permission, the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot perform such basic functions of government as providing social, health, security and utility services, developing the Palestinian economy and allocating resources. As a result of this desperation, Hamas inspires the people to launch qassam rockets as an act of defiance against those who would try to snuff them out. This results in an Israeli attack that kills many civilians while the Israeli death toll is minimal. Israeli claims that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields are flatly denied or considered minimal.
Israeli Perspective: Israelis feel that Gaza has consistently shown bellicose behavior and if left to its own devices would bring a far stronger attack against Israel. Israelis claim that they try to do everything in their power to effectively monitor what goes into and what comes out of Gaza. The Israeli government also has a duty to protect its citizens. Therefore, Israel needs to respond to the daily barrage of rockets and the people and property they hurt. Israelis account for the widely different numbers of dead by multiple means, the warning systems in Israel are very accurate and prevent many people from being above ground when the rockets hit, the dense population centers of Gaza lead to many innocents being in the crossfire, and the intentional use by Hamas militants of Palestinians as human shields.
Because of some indifferences between the two countries. Maybe, a simple disagreement.But I think they should sort it out before the world comes to an end.Because they will all go to hell: the people who are wicked!!!!
The Gaza Strip is a mostly-urban environment. Palestinians there have little choice about where they are going to fight Israelis without being in a city. (Gaza City is roughly 10% of the whole Gaza Strip.)
As for why Palestinians choose to fight Israelis at all, most would say that they do so to reclaim their homeland, which they argue is under "Zionist Occupation".
Israel and Hamas are not currently fighting anywhere. There are currently no Israeli military forces in Gaza and, as far as is known, no Hamas military forces in Israel.
No. According to the Oslo Accords in 1993, the Gaza Strip officially belongs to the Palestinian Authority. It is currently occupied by the Hamas Paramilitary/Terrorist Group.
Ironically, the Gaza Strip is the only territory in the entirety of the former Mandate of Palestine (Israel and the Palestinian Territories) that is not actually contested between the Israeli and Palestinian governments. Israel ceded significant control of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority in 1993 and subsequently gave it full control in 2005.The reason that there have been numerous wars in the Gaza Strip is because the Hamas government that currently rules over the Gaza Strip has a policy that peace with Israel is impossible and continues to lash out against Israel. If the Gaza Strip was more willing to behave peacefully with its neighbors (both Egypt and Israel), there would be fewer conflicts in the Gaza Strip. (Even Palestinians are getting tired of Hamas as can be seen in the parody of the "Thank You Hamas" videos.)
No. Hamas is paramilitary, terrorist, welfare, and political organization. (It has several distinct wings.)While the Palestinian Authority has de jure authority over both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Hamas exerts de facto control in the Gaza Strip. This has led some Egyptian generals to call the Gaza Strip "Hamas-stan" since Hamas rules a strip of territory.
The importance of Operation Cast Lead, also called the Gaza Strip War, is that it was the first major military confrontation between a governing Hamas Party and the Israeli Defense Forces. It resulted in over 1300 Palestinian casualties. It also set the tone for future Israel-Hamas relations, namely that Hamas was less inclined to attack Israel with rockets in the wake of the violence.
Answer 1No, it one of major cities in Palestine.Answer 2Currently the territory is in de facto control of the Militant Hamas Organization which has severed ties with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Gaza, by virtue of this is de facto an independent country, although no country recognizes it and most see it as an integral part of any future Palestinian State.
A Hamas Government.Pretty much everything else you can find in Gaza exists in Israel.The reason that Israel is fighting against Gaza has to do with the belligerent attitude and activities of its government. Israel does not want the Gaza Strip to acquire the territory or the people.
Hamas dictatorship which was created by the nation of Israel.
Gaza is in the control of Hamas (a Palestinian group), West Bank is still in the hands of Fatah (another Palestinian group) but Israel is the occupying force in the vast majority of the West Bank.
No. According to the Oslo Accords in 1993, the Gaza Strip officially belongs to the Palestinian Authority. It is currently occupied by the Hamas Paramilitary/Terrorist Group.
Hamas in the Gaza strip Hezbollah in Lebanon
Ironically, the Gaza Strip is the only territory in the entirety of the former Mandate of Palestine (Israel and the Palestinian Territories) that is not actually contested between the Israeli and Palestinian governments. Israel ceded significant control of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority in 1993 and subsequently gave it full control in 2005.The reason that there have been numerous wars in the Gaza Strip is because the Hamas government that currently rules over the Gaza Strip has a policy that peace with Israel is impossible and continues to lash out against Israel. If the Gaza Strip was more willing to behave peacefully with its neighbors (both Egypt and Israel), there would be fewer conflicts in the Gaza Strip. (Even Palestinians are getting tired of Hamas as can be seen in the parody of the "Thank You Hamas" videos.)
Israel invaded the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip from December 2008 to January 2009.
Hamas terrorists
The crisis is in the Gaza strip. Hamas (the domocratically elected terrorist government) has been throwing rockets at Israel, so Israel invaded Gaza and is killing a lot of people.
Hamas militants (equipped with RPG's, Qassam Rockets, and numerous explosive devices) vs. the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) (the IDF are equipped with American weapons and technology).
Israel governed the Gaza Strip under military authority from November 1956 to March 1957 and again from June 1967 to September of 2005. At all other points of time since 1948, the Gaza Strip was under Arab control (be it Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, or Hamas).
Nobody did that, and the Gaza Strip is not part of Israel.