The unruly gas sector. “The largest prison in the world”: Travel to the Gaza Strip How I traveled to the Gaza Strip

Funeral ceremonies for the death of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon briefly overshadowed another outbreak of the Arab-Israeli conflict associated with unprecedented air attacks by the Israeli Air Force in the Gaza Strip. The attacks followed in December and continued in January of the new year... How will the next escalation of the conflict affect the general situation in the region? And how will the new confrontation turn out for the fate of the entire Middle East?

First of all, we should briefly recall the history of the conflict. The Gaza Strip lies on land that was historically part of ancient Palestine, which also included modern-day Israel, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and parts of Jordan. The very name of the country comes from the word “Philistia,” that is, the land inhabited by the ancient tribes of the Philistines-Phoenicians. In history, this territory is better known as “Canaan”. Over the centuries, it passed from hand to hand to a variety of conquerors...

The beginning of the modern conflict dates back to 1948, when the Jewish state of Israel appeared on the world map, but the Palestinian Arab state, as suggested by a special UN resolution, was never created - this was the beginning of the struggle of the Palestinian Arabs for their rights.

The current blockade of Gaza began on September 19, 2007, immediately after the Hamas group came to power in the strip. According to her plans, the outlines of a Palestinian state would include the lands of modern Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Hamas program also involves the destruction of the state of Israel and its replacement with a Muslim theocracy. Therefore, the group’s leadership, having come to power, refused to recognize the agreements previously concluded by the Palestinians with Israel and began regularly shelling its territory. In response, Tel Aviv began a partial economic blockade of Gaza, periodically cutting off electricity and cutting off energy supplies. Today, Egypt, for its part, is also blocking Gaza...

There are different points of view on the reasons for the current escalation of the conflict. One of them is purely Arabic. Thus, according to Dmitry Mariasis, a senior researcher at the Israel Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the activation in the region is directly related to Hamas’s desire to divert the attention of Palestinians from the internal problems of the Gaza Strip:

“It is quite possible that Hamas lacks legitimation, or that some financial problems have arisen - for example, due to the fact that it has become more difficult to receive money from its allies, in particular from Iran, which now has a problem with international pressure, and therefore with the economy. It was necessary to somehow distract people from themselves to an external enemy, and this enemy is very quickly found - this is Israel. Israeli responses are very sensitive, very precise and powerful. You can accuse him of excessive use of force, of aggression against civilians, this is a well-known scenario, unfortunately, it has been used for many years, and I suspect that this is not the last attack and not the last Israeli response.”

In turn, Palestinian political scientist Atef Abu Seif is convinced that the aggravation of the situation in the Gaza Strip is associated with Israel’s desire "to tarnish the reputation of all of Palestine, since the stability of Palestine is a direct threat to the stability of Israel and its expansionist policies." In his opinion, Tel Aviv intends "to continue the destruction of the Palestinian Resistance forces under the pretext of preventing attacks against the Israelis" ...

Partial confirmation of this point of view can be the recent statement by the Israeli Armed Forces that the air attacks were a response to the launch of three Hamas rockets from the Gaza Strip. However, statistics show that the chance of hitting a target with a missile launched from the Gaza Strip is only three percent. The missiles launched fall mainly into the sea, into desert or uninhabited areas, while others are easily destroyed by Israeli air defenses. So Israel’s reaction to Hamas’s provocations looks, to put it mildly, inadequate.

Moreover, some Russian experts note the clear desire of the Israeli army to strike primarily at educational institutions, medical centers and other vital facilities in the besieged territory (in particular, this opinion is shared by political scientist Maxim Shevchenko, known for his extreme views). At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has more than once expressed the country’s official position, stating that Israel sees the Hamas movement behind any attack from the Gaza Strip, and therefore this movement will always be in Israel’s tight sights.

So there is a clear interest of the Israeli military in escalating the conflict...

No man's land?

Meanwhile, the very question of the presence of Jews and Arabs in Palestine has received an extremely controversial assessment in the world. Thus, a number of authors believe that the Palestinians are descendants of the ancient pre-Jewish population of Canaan. In particular, this opinion is shared by Israeli politician and journalist Uri Avnery. Others believe that (unlike the disappeared Canaanites and Philistines) the Jewish presence in Palestine dates back to time immemorial and has never been interrupted.

However, most scientists are inclined to believe that neither Palestinian Arabs nor Jews are the indigenous population of this territory. Thus, Russian expert A. Samsonov believes that the very phrase “Palestinian people”, which the Arabs use, has no historical meaning.

“Palestinian” can be called any inhabitant of this geographical territory - Arab, Jew, Circassian, Greek, Russian, and so on. There is neither a “Palestinian language” nor a “Palestinian culture”. Arabs speak a dialect of Arabic (“Syrian” dialect). The same language is spoken by the Arabs of Syria, Lebanon and the Kingdom of Jordan. Thus, the Arabs are not the “indigenous people” whose lands were enslaved by the “treacherous Jews.” They are just as much aliens as the Jews. Palestinian Arabs have no more rights to these lands than Jews."- concludes A. Samsonov.

He rightly notes that there was no Palestinian Arab state in history, and therefore no one occupied it. Since ancient times, city-states existed in Palestine, various peoples lived, and their territory was periodically part of one or another empire of the Ancient World. If any people have the right to call historical Palestine their homeland, then these are the Philistines, who have long been assimilated and dissolved in the diversity of peoples...

The question of who today has more rights to the territory where both Jews and Arabs are alien peoples is, of course, very controversial. So, on the one hand, it was the Jewish settlers who at one time brought progress to this region. And the development of infrastructure, in turn, led to an influx of Arab population from neighboring countries - for example, during the British colonial mandate (1922-1948), about 1 million Arabs came to Palestine.

In addition, in 1948, the Arab state was not created largely due to... the Arab factor itself! Thus, Egypt hastened to occupy the Gaza Strip, and Transjordan annexed most of the land of Judea and Samaria - all these lands were to become part of the Palestinian state. Jordan also captured East Jerusalem, which was to remain under UN control within the framework of Greater Jerusalem, without any state or national affiliation - these lands, after their annexation, were called the “West Bank”... Thus, in It is the Arabs themselves who are actually to blame for the fact that the Palestinian Arab state was never created!

A. Samsonov also notes that the basis of the conflict between Israel and the Arab countries is not a dispute over the right to own Palestine, but a religious confrontation between Judaism and Islam.

“The Palestinian issue has nothing to do with the struggle of the so-called. “Palestinian people” for the restoration of a “Palestinian state”, which did not exist in nature. This is a continuation of the Arabs’ battle for dominance over the Middle East and North Africa (the idea of the “Great Caliphate”) against the “infidels” (Jews and Christians). Therefore, there is no need to make Palestinian Arabs “innocent victims,” and Jews “occupiers.” Both sides have many sins."- the Russian expert believes...

Dialogue between the deaf and the dumb

Today, the international community is not giving up attempts to find a compromise between the warring parties. The last Palestinian-Israeli negotiations resumed five months ago and... immediately ran into many difficulties! The role of arbiter has traditionally gone to the United States of America - Secretary of State John Kerry acted as a mediator between the Israelis and Palestinians in January of this year.

However, even the Arab League did not accept the plan for an interim peace treaty proposed by the United States. In particular, the organization opposed the idea of an Israeli military presence in the Jordan Valley, where the external border of the occupied West Bank lies. In turn, Israeli leaders also rejected the proposal of the US Secretary of State, according to which IDF soldiers should liberate this valley within ten years - Tel Aviv believes that a complete withdrawal of troops would pose a threat to the security of the Israeli state.

As already mentioned, this security is solved by tough military measures...

But one should not think that the Israeli side is not ready to make any compromises in resolving this issue. Thus, Israel officially announced five peace principles on the basis of which peace in the region can be achieved. Their essence is as follows:

1) If Israel is asked to recognize the sovereignty of the Palestinians, they, in turn, must comply with the demand to recognize Israel as the sovereign state of the Jewish people. Non-recognition of the Jewish character of the State of Israel lies at the heart of the conflict.

2) The issue of Palestinian refugees must be resolved in the context of a sovereign Palestinian state. Palestinian refugees must be given the freedom to settle in Palestinian territory, but Israel cannot afford to be overwhelmed by a flood of refugees that would deprive the world's only Jewish state of its national character.

3) The peace agreement must be final and end the conflict. The world must be stable. It cannot become a transitional stage during which the Palestinians will use their state as a springboard for a new conflict with Israel. Once the peace agreement is signed, no new demands can be made.

4) Given that Israel has come under attack since its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and South Lebanon, it is important that a future Palestinian state does not become a threat to Israel. No territory abandoned by Israel as part of the agreement can be used by terrorists or their Iranian allies as a springboard to attack Israel. The only way to achieve this goal and prevent further conflicts is the effective demilitarization of the future Palestinian state.

5) International recognition of demilitarization agreements.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry also notes that the small number of casualties on the Israeli side in the current conflict is not at all explained by the “humanity” of the terrorists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and not by the “harmlessness” of the missiles they launch at Israel, but solely by the response actions of the Israel Defense Forces...

In general, the main demands of the Israeli side today boil down to mutual recognition of states and demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. However, these principles can hardly be implemented under the rule of Hamas, whose main goal is the destruction of Israel as a state.

War without end and without edge

It must be said that the international events currently unfolding in the Middle East are largely in favor of the Hamas movement. Thus, in the Syrian civil war that has been going on for several years, the government army is winning significant victories. Iranian diplomacy also achieved success, managing to achieve a partial lifting of economic sanctions. The latter cannot but alarm Israel, since it is Tehran, according to the country’s intelligence data, that is arming militants in the Gaza Strip.

For example, an Israeli website specializing in military intelligence, DEBKAfile, citing sources in the security services, reports that Palestinians are increasingly firing from Austrian Steyr HS.50 sniper rifles, manufactured under license in Iran. According to this source, these rifles are delivered to the Gaza Strip from Iran by sea, using the smuggling channels of the Lebanese Hezbollah - according to the Israeli website, militants of this Islamist group actively use Steyr HS .50 rifles during combat operations in Syria.

In turn, the official representative of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Marzieh Afkham, sharply condemned the attacks of the “Zionist regime” against the Gaza Strip. According to Ms. Afkham, the latest attacks were caused by Tel Aviv's fear of the possibility of a third intifada in the occupied Palestinian territories. According to the Iranian representative, “The Zionist regime is responsible for a number of crimes and terrorist attacks.” She called on the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other international organizations to condemn such crimes. Ms. Afkham also noted that Tel Aviv’s aggressive actions indicate that Israel feels its impunity...

The danger of a conflict developing in the Gaza Strip is also expressed in the fact that this conflict could serve as a reason for attempts to use nuclear weapons. Thus, the commander of the Iranian army, General Ataollah Salehi, said that “just one Iranian army is capable of destroying all of Israel” - the allusion to weapons of mass destruction is more than obvious. And as if in response, the Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Benny Gantz, threatened that the army of the Jewish state itself is capable of attacking Iran, without foreign support.

“There are currently no targets left that the IDF cannot hit, from Iran to the Gaza Strip. How to stop Iran, whose nuclear program is now the main threat to Israel, is a matter of political expediency, but not the capabilities of the IDF, which allows it to strike any source of threat, no matter where it is located,” stated the general.

Thus, it becomes obvious that one of the reasons for the aggravation of the situation in the Gaza Strip were events related to Syria and Iran...

However, in addition to foreign policy factors, attention should also be paid to the internal side of the issue that fuels this complex problem.

Thus, behind the ongoing terrorist attacks, there is, of course, a social factor, which Gunnar Heinsohn, head of the Lemkin Institute at the University of Bremen, spoke about in his publication in the Wall Street Journal. According to his theory, the excess of young population in the Gaza Strip leads to increased radicalism, wars and terrorism.

“The vast majority of the population does not feel the need to do anything in order to “raise” their offspring. Most children are fed, clothed, vaccinated and go to school only thanks to the UNRWA program. UNRWA pushes the Palestinian issue into a dead end by classifying Palestinians as "refugees" - not only those who were forced to leave their homes, but also all their descendants."- writes the researcher.

He notes that UNRWA is almost entirely funded by the United States (31%) and the European Union (50%). And only 7% of these funds come from Muslim sources. Thanks to Western funding, most of the population of Gaza lives, albeit at a fairly low, but stable level. The result of this policy today is rapid demographic growth of the population in the blocked zone. Between 1950 and 2008, Gaza's population grew from 240,000 to 1.5 million, according to official data. If current trends continue, then in 2040 the population of the Gaza Strip will reach three million!

And while the West provides food support and funds for schools, health care and housing, Muslim countries supply Gaza with weapons. According to Gunnar Heinsohn, this leads to the fact that “unfettered by the hassle of having to earn a living, young people have plenty of time for digging tunnels, smuggling weapons, assembling missiles and shooting”...

Hence the conclusion - it is necessary to solve the conflict problem that has arisen in the Gaza Strip in a comprehensive manner. In addition to active external intervention in Gaza, the international community also needs to do more social work with the predominantly young population of the strip. And the warring parties also require mutual recognition of two states - Palestine and Israel, without which peace on this earth is simply impossible. In addition, the issue of the civil war in Syria is acute, in which the Hamas movement, the foreign policy of Iran and the intrigues of the Persian Gulf monarchies, which see in the conflict between Israel and Palestine not only a confrontation between Judaism and Islam, but also a way to raise its role in the region and enrich itself at the expense of its neighbors...

In short, the tangle of contradictions here is very complex and it will be difficult for the international community to unravel it.

Yulia Chmelenko, specially for the “Ambassadorship Prikaz”

I thought that now is the time to write about the unfortunate (or ill-fated, as you prefer) Palestinian Gaza Strip, which does not leave the newspaper pages. It would seem that something is happening there that excites minds more than the million killed in Sudanese Darfur, or the hurricane in Honduras. All this is politics. It is likely that after reading this short report, supporters of the Palestinians in the Arab-Israeli conflict will say, “You are biased against the Arabs,” but paradoxically, Israeli readers will say the same thing, “You have a pro-Arab position.” How can this be? Yes, very simple. If I talk about travel, I don’t care about politics, I’m not in anyone’s camp and I’m not promoting anyone’s interests. If I wanted to talk about Gaza, I’ll do it; if I want to remember Honduras, I’ll remember that too. So -

I've been to Gaza about 150 times, or two hundred, I didn't count. This is not a typo; indeed, while serving in the Israeli army in 1995-1998, I spent several months in these places. I did not fight with anyone personally and did not kill anyone, but only served as a driver of a patrol jeep. The division headquarters was located inside the block of Israeli settlements of Gush Katif, next to the settlement of Neve Dkalim. Now all these details are absolutely not secret, because in 2005 Israel completed the withdrawal of troops from the Gaza Strip, as well as all Jewish settlements were evacuated. That same year, the Islamist radicals of Hamas won the elections and the countdown began, leading to the drama on the ship.

Signpost to Israeli settlements in Gaza. Now they are gone, only the military checkpoint Kisufim remains. At the top there is an inscription, apparently made by evacuated settlers: “We will remember and return!”

Frankly, when you see someone else’s life through the prism of obvious confrontation and hatred, it is very difficult to give a balanced assessment of what is happening. Especially if a couple of times your patrol jeep was pelted with Molotov bottles, causing the burning kerosene to leak through the roof and burn your leg quite painfully, leaving a small scar for life. And yet it was incredibly interesting to see the life of your opponents from the inside. After all, it can’t be that one and a half million people do nothing but throw stones and bottles at Sasha Lapshin (aka puerrtto)? Maybe in their free time they also read books, go to the market, make children, watch TV, treat their lower back, believe in a better life?

How can soldiers get into Gaza?

For a long time, a fellow colleague and I hatched plans on how we could get out of the military unit and visit the Palestinian enclave. It seemed like everything was nearby; the nearby city of Khan-Yunes was perfectly visible, because its houses were almost close to the dividing fence. But getting there physically was more difficult. First of all, because the military leadership, rightly fearing for our lives, did not allow us to leave the military unit on our own. If we were allowed to go home, we were taken outside the sector through the Kisufim checkpoint and dropped off on the Israeli side at a bus stop. It should be noted that such rules were introduced literally before my appearance in Gaza, because before that soldiers could travel to Israel using an ordinary bus with armored windows, which hourly connected nearby Israeli settlements and Israel itself.

So, we have come up with the following plan. Go outside the military unit, supposedly buy cigarettes in an Israeli settlement, and when you leave, quickly change from your military uniform to regular clothes. Then take a bus with settlers and go outside the perimeter. No sooner said than done. And here we are on the bus with the settlers. We leave the block of settlements with a checkpoint at the exit, then less than 10 kilometers through terrain that can only be called “plasticine”: the highway winds through sand dunes, randomly and chaotically built up with Arab houses, grazing cattle, mountains of garbage. And constant observation towers every kilometer are control over the route connecting the settlements with Israel. Here the bus goes quickly and without stops and there is nothing left to do but wait for the first stop. And here is the next settlement of Kfar Darom, at the entrance to which the bus stops at a checkpoint. This is where we leave. It is noteworthy that several years later I had the opportunity to visit this place again, after the end of my service, but that is a completely different story.

Tourists in Gaza?

In 1997, the situation was as follows: the Fatah movement, otherwise called the PLO, was in power in Gaza. The head of this organization was the late Yasser Arafat. Palestinian police armed with Kalashnikovs controlled the cities, and the Israeli army controlled the roads. Formally, there were no bans on visiting the Gaza Strip, but anyone who would have come up with such an idea would have caused surprise and indignation among the Israelis: “Are you crazy? There are only terrorists there!” It is noteworthy that all this happened before the real terrorists, the Hamas movement, came to power. What did we risk as soldiers in disguise? To a greater extent, because if our command found out about this, we would not escape a military prison. This is certainly unpleasant, but it is much less painful than becoming victims of a lynching if one of the extremists inside Gaza found out about it.

Who did we pretend to be? Tourists? Strange tourists, since tourism has never existed in the Gaza Strip. Any foreigner on the street is either a UN observer or a diplomat. There is no third. Hypothetically, a completely lost backpacker could come here, but this is such a rare occurrence that it’s not worth talking about at all. Accordingly, we needed a legend for those who would probably ask who we are. The legend was invented quite easily. My friend had a British passport issued by the British Consulate in Jerusalem. The reader will be surprised - it is obvious that such a passport could only be issued to an Israeli resident with dual citizenship! That's right, that's why the legend was invented - we are employees of the British consulate, that's why the passport was issued there. When asked why your passport is not diplomatic, the answer was - after all, we are just drivers at the consulate, we are not diplomats at all. Sounds relatively reliable?

Gaza Strip

Imagine a segment 40 kilometers long and 4 to 12 kilometers wide. Let’s surround it all with a fence. Now let’s add sand there, it’s still a desert. We will set up tens of thousands of houses in the desert absolutely chaotically, drop a million donkeys with carts there, then carefully cover everything with a good layer of garbage and finally move 1.7 million people there. Here's Gaza in two sentences. Of course, in the center of the enclave there are 9-storey buildings and even three quite fashionable hotels, not to mention a rather elegant embankment full of restaurants and cafes. Servants of the Palestinian people live in blocks along the Gaza embankment, whose palaces Rublyovka would envy: marble stairs, columns in the ancient Greek style, machine gunners along the perimeter. But these are rather small islands of prosperity, because 99% of the territory of Gaza is exactly as I described it above.

Now I’ll abstract myself a little from the trip 13 years ago and say from myself today - Gaza is not a place for those who are looking for sights. There are no castles, ancient cathedrals, or museums here. There is not even nature here - the area is flat as a table, 80% built up, and where it is not built up is littered. But Gaza will certainly captivate those interested in the hot spots of the world and those interested in the problems of the modern Middle East. It is extremely dangerous to go there now, because with Hamas coming to power, things have sharply declined, although, it would seem, much worse? Complete chaos, where you will almost certainly be mistaken for a provocateur with all the ensuing consequences. However, there is no way to get to Gaza except from Egypt, unless there is a desire to join the human rights activists rushing there from the sea, who are more like provocateurs.

Yet Gaza is not all politics and violence. I would even say that this is absolutely not politics or violence. 1.7 million people cannot be villains. Man is an emotional creature who loves pretentious epithets. At one time, I listened on TV to the statements of the now destroyed Chechen field commander Umarov, “We will drown Moscow in blood.” I wanted to ask, dear, what are you talking about? Why are you bothering me with your vulgar squabbles, I haven’t been able to find a job for six months without you, and you’re also planning to drown me. Aren't you ashamed? I experienced the same strange and detached feeling while watching a medium-sized demonstration in Tehran in 2008 with the burning of US and Israeli flags. Observing this fascinating action from the side, I wanted to ask, “Comrades, do you really have nothing else to do except go and burn some rags in the middle of the working day?” This world is strange: everyone is yelling about something, scolding someone, spitting saliva. Meanwhile, life passes by. However, this is already lyrics.

Below is a small selection of photographs taken in Gaza City in the spring of 1997. I would like to say that the photographs were taken on film and then scanned by me for a digital version. As you can see, life goes on as usual and ordinary household concerns -

And finally, yours truly on the street in Khan Younes (south of the Gaza Strip) in 1997. An hour after this photo I had to change my clothes to khaki and return to work. A boy, a boy, as if I wasn’t me at all. How much water has flown under the bridge since then, and how many countries have been traveled -

The Gaza Strip is approximately 50 km long and 6 to 12 km wide. The total area is about 360 square kilometers.

Cities

Abasan
Beit Hanoun (Arabic: بيت حانون ‎‎)
Gaza (Aza) (Arabic: غزة ‎‎) (Hebrew: עזה‎)
Dir el-Balah (Deir el-Balah, Deir al-Balah, Dir al-Balah)
Rafah (Rafah) (Hebrew: רפיח ‎)
Khan-Yunes (Khan-Yunis)
Jabaliya (Arabic: جباليا ‎‎)

Demographic statistics data

1.6 million people live on an area of 360 km². The population density (3.9 thousand people per 1 sq. km) approximately corresponds to the level of Berlin (Germany).

The birth rate in the Gaza Strip is one of the highest in the world, more than half the population is under 15 years of age, and the population doubles every 20-25 years. The majority of the population are Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

Israeli experts believe that there is reason to doubt the veracity of these data, since all indicators are based on reports from the Palestinian Authority, which "does not provide any possibility of serious verification of these data."

There is no consensus among Israeli demographers on this matter: Professor A. Sofer believes that it is these data that should be used, since there are no others, but Dr. J. Etinger and Dr. B. Zimmerman (AIDRG Institute) believe (based on comparison with data on emigration, hospital data on birth rates, etc.), that the figures are overestimated by at least a third.

Legal status

In 1947, during the division of the Mandatory Lands, the territory of Gaza was assigned to the Arab state.

According to a representative of the UN Secretary General: “the official status of “occupied territory” of the Gaza Strip can only be changed by a decision of the UN Security Council,” another UN representative said that even after the withdrawal of Israeli troops, “the UN continues to consider the Gaza Strip to be occupied territory.” Prior to these statements, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon refrained from answering a question about the status of the Gaza Strip after the Israeli evacuation, saying that he was not authorized to answer it. The US position on the status of Gaza remains unclear, but the US State Department website defines the Gaza Strip as occupied territory.

In January 2006, the Islamist radical movement Hamas won local elections in the sector. After a series of purges and skirmishes with rival factions, Hamas completely seized power - government institutions of the Palestinian Authority and its security forces ceased functioning in the strip in July 2007 due to a coup by Hamas, although formally the Gaza Strip still continues to be part of the Palestinian Authority and is subordinate to it Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. But in reality we are talking about the existence of two separate enclaves.

In this regard, on September 19, 2007, Israel and Egypt imposed an economic blockade of the strip, the main purpose of which is to prevent the supply of weapons to Gaza, which was weakened by a decision of the Israeli government on June 20, 2010, but not stopped.

Story

For the history of the Gaza area before 1948, see history of Gaza City.

Gaza under control of the Arab Republic of Egypt (1948-1967)

The Camp David Treaty states that Israeli troops will leave the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Jordan and in these territories a democratically elected autonomous Palestinian administration would be created, and a maximum of five years after this event, through negotiations, the final status of these territories was to be determined. However, the process prescribed in the Camp David Accords began only 14 years later, in 1993, with the signing of the Oslo Accords, and has not yet been completed.

After the agreements were signed, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat said in a speech to parliament (Mordel):

Before the war for the rights of the Palestinian people, Egypt was a prosperous country in the Arab world. Now we are a poor country, and the Palestinians demand that we once again fight for them until the last Egyptian soldier.

It should be noted that after the Oslo Accords, the economic situation in the Gaza Strip worsened: unemployment in the Palestinian territories was less than 5 percent in the late 1980s and 20 percent by the mid-1990s, and the territories' gross national product fell by 36 percent between 1992 and 1996 According to the Arabs, this happened as a result of high population growth due to the birth rate and decreasing economic ties with Israel. Another opinion is that this is due to the fact that the Gaza authorities are unwilling to take care of the needs of the population.

Blockade of the Gaza Strip

Rise of extremism

Gunnar Heinsohn, head of the Lemkin Institute at the University of Bremen, writes in the Wall Street Journal:

The vast majority of the population does not feel the need to do anything in order to “raise” their offspring. Most children are fed, clothed, vaccinated and in school thanks to the UNRWA. UNRWA stymies the Palestinian issue by classifying Palestinians as "refugees" - not only those forced to flee their homes, but also all their descendants.
UNRWA is generously funded by the United States (31 percent) and the European Union (about 50 percent) - and only 7 percent of these funds come from Muslim sources. Thanks to such generosity from the West, almost the entire population of Gaza lives in dependence, at a rather low, but stable level. One of the results of this unlimited charity is an endless population boom.
Between 1950 and 2008, Gaza's population grew from 240,000 to 1.5 million. The West, in fact, has created a new Middle Eastern people in Gaza, which, if current trends continue, will reach three million in 2040. The West pays for food, schools, medical care and housing, while Muslim countries help with weapons. Unfettered by the hassle of having to earn a living, young people have plenty of time to dig tunnels, smuggle weapons, build missiles and shoot.

Gunnar Heinsohn believes that the popularity of radical and extremist political movements in Gaza is largely due to the youth of the sector’s population.

It should be noted that high birth rates are characteristic not only of the Gaza Strip, but also of other developing countries, which is associated with the demographic transition. Gunnar Heinsohn describes the Gaza Strip as a classic case of his theory that an excess of young population leads to increased radicalism, war and terrorism.

Shelling of Israel from Gaza

In July 2006, in response to the shelling and kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas militants, the Israeli army launched an unprecedented military Operation Summer Rains to destroy militants from the terrorist organizations Hamas, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and others.

In December 2006, an assassination attempt was made on the life of Hamas Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya by Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip.

In February 2007, an agreement was reached between the leaders of Fatah and Hamas and a coalition government was briefly created.

The international community once again demanded that the new PA government recognize Israel, disarm the militants, and end the violence. Tripartite negotiations between the United States, the Palestinian Authority and Israel ended inconclusively.

After Hamas seized power

In May - June 2007, Hamas tried to remove from power former police officers who were not subordinate to the Minister of Interior - supporters of Fatah, who first turned out to be subordinate to the Fatah-Hamas government, and then refused to resign from government service. In response, on June 14, the President of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas announced the dissolution of the government, introduced a state of emergency in the territory of the autonomy and took full power into his own hands. As a result of the bloody civil war that broke out for power, Hamas retained its position only in the Gaza Strip, while in the West Bank. Jordanian power was retained by supporters of Mahmoud Abbas. Mahmoud Abbas created the river in the West Bank. Jordan's new government called Hamas militants "terrorists." Thus, Palestine split into two hostile entities: Hamas ( Gaza Strip) and Fatah (West Bank).

Fence breach on the border with Egypt

After another wave of shelling of Israeli territory, by order of Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on January 20, 2008, the supply of electricity, food and fuel to the Gaza Strip was temporarily stopped, which caused a wave of protests around the world. But on January 22 they were resumed.

On January 23, 2008, after months of preliminary preparations during which the supports of the border fence were weakened, Hamas destroyed several sections of the border fence separating the Gaza Strip from Egypt near the city of Rafah. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans crossed the border and entered Egyptian territory, where prices for food and other goods are lower. Due to a three-day interruption in Israeli supplies of electricity, fuel and a number of goods, Egyptian President Husni Mubarak was forced to order Egyptian border guards to allow Palestinians into Egyptian territory, but to check that they were not carrying weapons. Several armed infiltrators were arrested by Egyptian authorities and later released.

Egypt's first attempts to close the border encountered fierce resistance from Hamas militants, who carried out a series of explosions in the border area, and a few days later entered into a firefight with border guards. But after 12 days the border was restored.

The breach of the fence also led to the penetration of several Palestinian militants into Sinai and then into Israel, where they carried out a terrorist attack in Dimona on February 1, in which one Israeli woman was killed and 23 other people were wounded.

The internal political situation in the Gaza Strip remained extremely unstable. The explosive situation was exacerbated by the daily smuggling of weapons from Egypt through a network of underground tunnels on the Egyptian border, as well as one of the highest levels of population density and unemployment in the world. According to a number of both Israeli and Palestinian observers, this has led to the transformation of the Gaza Strip into an enclave of anarchy and terrorism.

Truce between Hamas and Israel June-December 2008

In June 2008, a six-month truce was concluded between Israel and Hamas. However, it lasted only until the beginning of November 2008. The parties blamed each other for breaking the truce. Immediately after the end of the truce, intensified rocket attacks on Israeli territory resumed.

Operation Cast Lead and its consequences

On December 27, 2008, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, Operation Cast Lead, the goal of which was to destroy Hamas' military infrastructure and prevent eight years of rocket attacks on Israeli territory. . The decision to launch a large-scale operation was made by the Israeli government after dozens of unguided rockets were fired into Izril from the Gaza Strip.

The operation resulted in hundreds of casualties among the Palestinian population (the vast majority of militants), massive destruction of infrastructure, industry and the destruction of thousands of residential buildings in the sector. According to human rights organizations, civilians were often targeted deliberately by Israel, although careful analysis of casualty statistics showed the opposite. Human rights organizations also claimed that the destruction of Palestinian civilian sites was carried out without any military necessity, but Israel rejected these accusations.

Hamas was also accused by the UN of deliberately targeting Israeli civilians, resulting in three deaths. A report by the UN human rights mission led by Judge Goldstone said that many of the actions of both Hamas and Israel during the operation could amount to war crimes. It should be noted, however, that this UN report has been considered by many, including the US House of Representatives, to be biased, biased, anti-Israel, distorting the truth and promoting terror.

Economy

High population density, limited land resources and access to the sea, the continued isolation of the Gaza Strip and strict security restrictions have led to the deterioration of the economic situation of the sector in recent years.

The unemployment rate in Gaza is 40 percent. 70 percent of the sector's population lives below the poverty line.

The sector's economy is based on small-scale manufacturing, fishing, agriculture (citrus, olives, vegetables and fruits), dairy products and halal beef. Before the outbreak of the Second Intifada, many residents of the sector worked in Israel or in factories in Israeli settlements in the sector. With the onset of the intifada, and especially after Israel left the sector in 2005, this opportunity disappeared. Exports of local goods declined as a result of the blockade and the establishment of the Hamas regime, and many small businesses went bankrupt. However, Israel allows the export of strawberries and flowers (primarily carnations). Fishing volumes have declined.

Crafts are developed in the Gaza Strip - textiles and embroidery, soap, mother-of-pearl products, and olive wood carvings are produced here. Since the time of Israeli control, small factories built by Israeli entrepreneurs have remained in industrial centers.

Main trading partners Gaza Strip are Israel, Egypt and the PA.

Currency used in Gaza sector- Israeli shekels and American dollars. Egyptian pounds and Jordanian dinars are also used, but to a lesser extent.

The situation is aggravated by the fact that more than half of the sector's population are minors. As a result of the policy of the Hamas regime, which is not ready to give up its basic principle - the destruction of Israel, and also does not want to make an exchange deal by returning the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, which would lead to a partial or complete lifting of the blockade, the economic situation in Gaza sector not easy, although far from catastrophic. However, during the Israeli military operation “Cast Lead” in late 2008 and early 2009, the sector’s economy suffered additional damage of $4 billion, more than 14,000 private homes and dozens of factories were destroyed.

Footnotes

Spelling: Gaza Strip Lopatin V.V. Uppercase or lowercase? Spelling dictionary / V. V. Lopatin, I. V. Nechaeva, L. K. Cheltsova. - M.: Eksmo, 2009. - 512 p., p. 398
http://israel.moy.su/publ/4-1-0-25
Nobel laureate Aumann calls disengagement a "disaster"
Is Gaza "occupied" territory? (CNN, January 6, 2009) fckLR*The U.N. position fckLR** “In February 2008, Secretary-General Ban was asked at a media availability whether Gaza is occupied territory. "I am not in a position to say on these legal matters," he responded.
fckLR**The next day, at a press briefing, a reporter pointed out to a U.N. stated that the secretary-general had told Arab League representatives that Gaza was still considered occupied.fckLR** "Yes, the U.N. defines Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem as Occupied Palestinian Territory. No, that definition hasn't changed," the said replied.
fckLR** Farhan Haq, spoke for the secretary-general, told CNN Monday that the official status of Gaza would change only through a decision of the U.N. Security Council."fckLR
fckLR* The U.S. positionfckLR** [...] The U.S. State Department Web site also includes Gaza when it discusses the "occupied" territories. State Department supporting Amanda Harper referred CNN Monday to the department"s Web site for any questions about the status of Gaza, and she noted that the Web site referred to the 2005 disengagement. When asked the department"s position on whether Gaza is still occupied , Harper said she would look into it. fckLR** She has not yet contacted CNN with any more information»]
Berliner Zeitung: Prospects for Hamas
Hamas Charter
The Charter of Hamas
Sderot Media Center. Our mission
"Kasami" in December: record levels of terror
Summary of rocket fire andfckLRmortar shelling in 2008
The blockade of the Gaza Strip broke the Leningrad record
Hamas does not believe in Israeli intentions to ease the blockade
The Rise and Fall of the All Palestine Govt Avi Shlaim

The Gaza Strip is a sandy strip starting in the north near the Shikma River and ending at the Egyptian border at Rafah. The length of this sandy area is 45 kilometers in length, while the width is 6 kilometers.

In ancient times, this piece of land was part of the lands inhabited by the seafaring Philistines. It was on this piece of land that the legendary giant Samson met the seductive Delilah on his way, who betrayed him, giving him into the hands of his enemies. It was to this piece of land that Samson was brought when, after grueling numerous battles, he was captured by his enemies. And according to Arab legend, Samson was buried where the Crusaders built a church in 1150, which was later turned into the Great Mosque by the Mamelukes.

Since those ancient times, many peoples have visited Israel in the Gaza Strip: Crusaders and Muslims, the British and Turks, and even soldiers of the Napoleonic army. In 1948, the army of Egypt appeared on this territory, a state that retained control over these lands - the gateway to Palestine - even after it became an independent state.

About 20% of the Arabs living on Palestinian soil, who lost their land during the war in 1948 and after, then found shelter in the Gaza Strip.

In Gaza, Egyptian President Nasser created the main detachments of militants and sent them to fight against Israel and carry out terrorist acts. Israel's response was the Sinai Campaign, which began in 1956. The result was that Israel became the owner of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula for a short time. In 1967, Israel again captured the territories of Egypt - the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.

Since 1994, Israel has achieved self-government in the Gaza Strip. But, ravaged by wars and conflicts, the land developed at a slow pace. After all, Palestinian refugees lived in difficult conditions. For the past 40 years, the Arab population has lived in refugee camps set up by the United Nations to temporarily house people. Statistically speaking, 60% of Palestinian refugees cannot find work. All these unfavorable factors create fertile ground for the development of resistance movements, in particular the Islamic movement Hamas, which is fierce and opposed to the peaceful coexistence of the PLO and Israel.

It’s probably not worth going for tourism purposes or to the Gaza Strip. There are no significant ones in this area; tourists are mainly attracted by the colorful life of the streets of the Gaza Strip. But, if there is still a need or there is simply a desire to get acquainted with this part of Israel, you must strictly follow all precautions. After all, the political situation is extremely tense. It must be said that in Israel, in the Gaza Strip, there are constantly observers - UN representatives who drive through the streets in white cars.

On the streets of Gaza you can really see pictures that are unusual for European eyes: here are Arab women dressed in black dresses confidently carrying huge plastic and wooden baskets on their heads, and here Arab children are rushing along the street in ironed school uniforms. In the cities on the central squares in Israel in the Gaza Strip, as a rule, there are oriental markets and bazaars, where exotic-looking merchants offer visiting tourists all sorts of belongings, including the famous clothes made of the finest cotton. By the way, the very name of the territory – the Gaza Strip – comes from the name of the finest cotton fabric “gaz”, the production of which these places were famous for. In the markets you can buy ceramic products, natural carpets made from camel wool, and wicker furniture. No matter how hard it is to live in Israel in the Gaza Strip, during the reign of Israel, the number of good, solid houses has grown on this piece of land, people can use electricity, which is available to 90% of the inhabitants of this land, many have refrigerators, cars, and televisions.

The Gaza Strip has its own borders: the east and north of the Gaza Strip border on the Israeli state. The territories of the Gaza Strip and Israel are separated by a fence and equipped with checkpoints. The other part of the Gaza Strip borders Egypt.

The territory area is about 360 square kilometers, the capital of the state is Gaza City.

In 2005, following the implementation of the unilateral disengagement plan, the Israeli state withdrew its troops from the Gaza Strip and liquidated its military settlements.

Today, the government institutions of the Palestinian Authority and its security forces, as well as the Gaza Strip, are completely under the control of the Islamist organization Hamas. This happened after the Islamist party Hamas carried out a coup in 2007.

Today, the Gaza Strip is home to about 2 million people, two thirds of whom are refugees who fled Israel during the War of Independence in 1948.

If we talk about the economy in the Gaza Strip, then from time immemorial, the economy of this economic sector was based on agriculture, in particular on the cultivation of citrus fruits, the fishing industry, and small-scale manufacturing. Before Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2005, residents of the Strip could work in Israeli enterprises. But, since 2007, there has been no such opportunity for residents of the Sector. Exports stopped as a result of the blockade, and small businesses went bankrupt. Fishing has also stopped, as Israeli boats do not allow Gaza Strip fishermen to go fishing at sea.

Today, the situation in the sector is further aggravated by the fact that half of the residents of the Gaza Strip are minors. According to statistics from 2010, 38% of residents in the Gaza Strip lived below the poverty line; today this figure has increased and is 45%.

Economically, the Gaza Strip is very dependent on Israel. After all, almost all cargo into the sector can only be delivered through Egypt or by land via Israel. The Gaza Strip does not have its own port. At one time, after the signing of the Oslo agreements, a harbor began to be built in the Gaza Strip with the help of sponsors from Europe. But in 2000, Israeli troops bombed the erected construction sites in response to the killing of Israeli army soldiers. Investors stopped the construction of the harbor and the construction of the port, and since then it has not been resumed.

After the Islamist group Hamas came to power in the Palestinian Authority elections, Israel imposed a blockade in the Gaza Strip. The economic situation in this region has further deteriorated.

Today, only a limited list of goods is allowed into the Gaza Strip: food, medicines, detergents, and limited quantities of fuel for power plants. You cannot bring construction materials into Gaza: sand, cement, bricks, etc. Israel does not allow household appliances and car parts, needles, fabrics, threads, clothes and shoes, light bulbs and matches, bedding, dishes, glasses, scissors, knives, tea and coffee, chocolate, musical instruments and books into the Gaza Strip.

Israel's ban on building materials is especially hard to bear. After all, the sector is almost completely destroyed: private houses and public buildings were destroyed after the Israeli army’s “Cast Lead” operation, many are in a deplorable condition. Since 2000, residents of the Gaza Strip have been trying to restore their territories and living quarters on their own, but this is not an easy task. From crushed stone, sand, clay and straw, a kind of brick is produced on site. Israel motivates the ban on construction materials by the fact that Hamas will use them to build military structures and fortifications.

But those who have been to the Gaza Strip are surprised that the shops have a wide variety of goods, the counters are full of fruits and vegetables, and there is nothing to indicate that the country is in a deep economic crisis. It must be said that most goods are smuggled into the sector. In addition, residents of the Gaza Strip do not have money to shop.

In 2011, a UN commission was created, headed by Geoffrey Palmer. The commission's task was to investigate the circumstances of the conflict that occurred off the coast of the Gaza Strip in 2010, the notorious Freedom Flotilla. The United Nations Commission fully recognized the legitimate Israeli measures to blockade the Strip.

In particular, the commission's report stated that freedom of navigation on the high seas is subject only to certain, narrow exceptions that are consistent with international law. Israel is indeed in real danger from Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip. And a naval blockade is a legal method to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea. The blockade was carried out in accordance with international law.

The Gaza Strip is a territory on the Mediterranean coast allocated by the UN for the creation of the Arab state of Palestine.

From 1948 (after the first Arab-Israeli war) to 1967 it was occupied by the Arab Republic of Egypt, and after the Six-Day War from 1967 to 2005 by Israel.

The area is considered one of the most densely populated in the world. The Gaza Strip is 54 km long and only 12 km wide. Moreover, on an area of 363 sq. km there are about 1.5 million Palestinians. The main source of income for local residents was the export of agricultural products, mainly citrus fruits, to Israel. However, after the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada in 2001, Israel practically closed its borders.

Cities of the Gaza Strip: Abasan, Beit Hanoun, Gaza (Aza), Dir el Balakh (Deir el Balakh, Deir al Balakh, Dir al Balakh), Rafah (Raffah), Khan Younes (Khan Younis), Jabaliya.

On August 15, 2005, as part of a unilateral disengagement plan, Israel began evacuating Jewish settlers (8,500 people) and troops from the area. By August 22, all Jewish settlers had left the Gaza Strip. On September 12, the last Israeli soldier was withdrawn, ending the 38-year Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip.

In the first democratic elections to the Palestinian Legislative Assembly, held in Gaza on January 25, 2006, Hamas unexpectedly won 74 of 133 seats, which caused an international crisis. After the victory, Hamas refused to recognize the Palestinians' earlier agreements with Israel and disarm its fighters. As a result, the international community began a financial boycott of Palestine.

Hamas found itself in confrontation with Fatah, whose representatives mainly comprised the Autonomy government, and also continued shelling Israeli territory. Hamas militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier, which became the reason for the start of Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip.

In February 2007, an agreement on Palestinian unity was reached between the leaders of Fatah and Hamas and a coalition government was created.

The international community has once again demanded that the new Palestinian government recognize Israel, disarm the militants and end the violence. Tripartite negotiations between the United States, the Palestinian Authority and Israel ended without results. In June 2007, Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip by military means and announced its intention to create an Islamic state there. In response, the head of the Palestinian Authority, the leader of the Fatah group opposing them, Mahmoud Abbas, on June 14 announced the dissolution of the government, which was dominated by Hamas, introduced a state of emergency in the region and took full power into his own hands. Experts started talking about the split of Palestine into two hostile entities.

PA leader Mahmoud Abbas created a new government in the West Bank and called Hamas militants terrorists."

In October 2007, Israel declared the Gaza Strip a “hostile state” and began a partial economic blockade of it, periodically cutting off electricity supplies, stopping energy supplies, etc.

At the same time, in the West Bank, Israel is pursuing a policy of “creeping annexation,” that is, the creation of Israeli settlements without permission in the territory determined by the UN decision for the Palestinian state. In December 2007, in the Jewish settlements of Judea and Samaria