Gaza's : Why It's The Main Home Of Refugees, Terrorists and What Jews Had To Do With It

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

Gaza is a 25-mile long stretch of coastal land (141 square miles, 365 square kilometers).  The average width is 8 miles.  The whole of Gaza (aka the Gaza Strip) is about twice the size of Washington, D.C. and three times the population, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt and Israel.  The Gaza Strip is geographically about the size of Philadelphia, Detroit or the country of Grenada.

The Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza were initially established to accommodate Palestinians displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War (also known as the Nakba). The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1949 specifically to provide relief and works programs for these refugees. 

It's important to note that the ongoing conflict in the region has caused significant displacement, with the UN estimating that about 1.9 million people (roughly 90% of the population) have been displaced across the Gaza Strip. This displacement makes it challenging to provide precise, real-time population figures. 

Jews lived here but left in 1917 at the end of WWI.  Those left, really left during the 1929 Arab riots against Jews.  The city of Gaza in 1949 had 30,000, filled with many refugees.  

Egypt had Gaza originally since 1949.  Gaza fell into Israel's hands in November 1956 in the Sinai Operation .  Israel returned the Gaza Strip in March 1957 when Egyptians resumed control with a UN Emergency Force.  In May 1967, the UN secretary-general U Thant obeyed Nasser's demand to withdraw the force allowing the Six Day War to take place.  The 1967 census found 352,260 in the Gaza Strip of whom 172,520 were refugees.  

                                  IDF in Jerusalem 

• Israel had occupied the Gaza Strip since the 1967 Six-Day War.
• Prior to the 2005 disengagement, there were approximately 9,000 Israeli settlers living in 21 settlements within Gaza.  That means that before refugees arrived, there were 179,740 Palestinians 
• living in Gaza.  

Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September 2005, as part of its unilateral disengagement plan. Israel had only held it for 38 years.

  

This plan, announced in late 2003 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, aimed to withdraw Israeli soldiers and dismantle settlements in Gaza. Control of the Gaza Strip was then transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA). 

What Israel left For The Palestinians in Gaza:  

Based on the provided search results, when Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the following infrastructure was left behind: 

• Greenhouses: Israeli settlers left behind agricultural greenhouses, which were intended to be used by Palestinians for economic development. Some sources suggest these greenhouses were later looted or destroyed.
• Road networks: A network of roads, including highways and smaller roads, was left behind.
• Other facilities: Educational institutions and healthcare facilities were also left intact.
• Public Buildings: Public buildings, factories, and greenhouses that could not be dismantled were left intact.
• Water Systems: Israel left behind water supply systems that had served the Israeli settlements, including wells, reservoirs, and a transmission system.
• Water and Electricity Networks: Israel continued to provide Gaza with water, communication, electricity, and sewage networks. 

Refugees that entered Gaza:  

• 1948 Arab-Israeli War (Nakba): The initial influx of refugees to Gaza occurred during and after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, known to Palestinians as the Nakba ("catastrophe").
• Forced Displacement: Approximately 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from or fled their homes as a result of the war.
• Concentration in Gaza: Gaza became a major area for their concentration.
• Descendants Classified as Refugees: UNRWA, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees, classifies those original refugees and their descendants as refugees, regardless of where they were born.

• Many in Refugee Camps: A significant portion of these refugees reside in recognized UNRWA refugee camps within the Gaza Strip.
• Impact of Recent Hamas Terrorist Attack on Israel of October 7, 2023 : Recent War;  particularly the Israeli military campaign starting in October 2023, has resulted in a further wave of internal displacement within Gaza.
• Humanitarian Crisis: The situation has led to a severe humanitarian crisis with significant challenges regarding food security, water, healthcare, and access to essential services.    Hamas has stolen food meant for civilians, sold it at high prices, hidden in their homes, hospitals, mosques, tunnels, 

Islam allows 4 wives per man, so population has grown 4 times faster than the norm. 

Hamas gained control of the Gaza Strip and removed the Palestinian Authority (PA) from power in the following way: 

1. Electoral Victory in 2006:

• In the January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).
• Hamas ran under the banner of "Change and Reform" and secured 74 out of 132 available seats, while the incumbent Fatah party received 45 seats.
• Hamas' victory was seen as a manifestation of public disenchantment with the prevailing Fatah leadership and its perceived corruption. 

2. Formation of a Hamas-led Government and International Backlash:

• Following the election, Hamas formed a government led by Ismail Haniyeh.
  
  
  
• However, due to Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence, and adhere to previous agreements, Israel, the United States, and the European Union imposed sanctions and cut off direct aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) government, putting immense pressure on the Hamas-led government.  who, by the way, never paid Israel their water
• or electric bills, even with all the money they received from
• their other backers;  Muslim communities.  

                         Russian soldier in 1791

            

Just a quick comparison with Gaza to the Jewish Land of Pale Of Settlement of eastern Europe:  

(Gaza Strip : 365 kilometers) (1.9 million people)   (Pale of Settlement 1,224,008 sq  km) (4 million people) 

On December 23, 1791, Catherine II (“the Great”), the empress of Russia, authorized the creation of the Pale of Settlement, an area in the western part of the empire in which Jewish subjects would be required to reside.  None could live in 

Russia proper.  Catherine the Great did not acquire the Pale of Settlement; it was created by her in 1791 as a way to manage the Jewish population within the Russian Empire after territorial gains from Poland and the Ottoman Empire. The Pale of Settlement was an area within which Jews were permitted to live and work, but it also restricted their movement and commercial activities within the larger Russian Empire.  The first significant decree in this direction was issued on December 23, 1791, which restricted the commercial rights of Jews to certain areas newly annexed from Poland and Turkey, effectively creating the initial boundaries of what would become the Pale of Settlement. 

The Pale of Settlement was a territory within the Russian Empire where Jews were "permitted" to reside permanently, encompassing roughly 472,590 square miles (1,224,008 sq km). This area included parts or the whole of modern-day Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Moldova from 1791 to 1917's end of WWI.  That

means that the Jews could only live in the Pale of Settlement and that was it for 126 years.   The borders of the Pale of Settlement were formally abolished by the Russian Provisional Government on March 20th (April 2nd, New Style) 1917, following the February Revolution. This action effectively dismantled the Pale, ending the restrictions on Jewish residency and movement within the Russian Empire.  About 4 million Jews were living in the Pale of Settlement.  

Resource:

https://www.anera.org/how-big-is-gaza/

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-19/israel-hamas-war-why-gaza-has-so-many-palestinian-refugees