Gaza Strip Profiles:

Gaza Strip Today:

The Gaza Strip, as we know it today, is an artificial entity born out of the upheavals which accompanied the Arab- Israeli war of 1948. Immediately after the creation of Israel in that year, almost over night, the population of the area tripled, putting enormous pressure on the small strip of land and its limited natural resources. It was only then that the some l40km2 area around the city of Gaza becarne known as the Gaza Strip. Gaza was placed under Egyptian control after the war, but was captured by Israel during the 1967 war and remained under occupation unti11994.

Gaza was the first area to be handed back to the Palestinian Authority on May 1994 as a result of the Middle East Peace Process. Forty percent of the area of the Gaza Strip is. How ever. Still under Israeli control. An estimated 2.500 Israelis still live in the nineteen settlements of the Strip. Notably in the southern Katif Bloc. The population density of Israeli settlers to Palestinians per square kilometer is 20 to 2.700 respectively. The Strip provides Israeli industry with a plentiful supply of cheap labor and serves as a dumping ground for Israeli produce. That is probably why Israel refuses to sanction any kind of opening for Gaza Inhabitants. Gaza houses the official residence of the chairman of the Palestinian Authority. As well as many of the PNA .s ministries and departments.

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