Overview: The Gaza Strip is a narrow strip of land in the Middle East not internationally recognized currently as a de jure part of any sovereign country. It takes its name from Gaza, its main city. It is one of the most densely populated territories on earth, with a predominantly (99.4%) Palestinian population of about 1.4 million in an area of 360 km˛. 69% of the Strip is currently under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, while the remaining territory (mainly the areas containing and surrounding Israeli settlements, as well as borders and main roads) is controlled by Israel. It is a focus of dispute in the long-running Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Geographically, the Strip forms the westernmost portion of the Palestinian territories in Southwest Asia, having land borders with Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the north and east. On the west, it is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea.
The Strip's borders were originally defined by the armistice lines between Egypt and Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which followed the dissolution of the British mandate of Palestine. It was occupied by Egypt until it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1993, after the Palestinian-Israeli agreements known as the Oslo Accords, much of the Strip came under limited Palestinian Authority control. In February 2005 the Israeli government voted to implement Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip beginning on August 15, 2005. The plan required the dismantling of all Israeli settlements there, and the removal of all Israeli settlers and military bases from the Strip, a process that is to be completed by October, 2005. (However, on August, 22 2005 the BBC News ran an article entitled "Gaza settler eviction completed" Link to article -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4171982.stm) Following withdrawal, Israel will retain offshore maritime control and a small strip of land (the so-called "Philadelphi Corridor") alongside the Egypt-Gaza Strip border, although Israel's defense minister has said that Israel will eventually leave this corridor as well.
Map of Gaza Strip:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...aps/gz-map.gif
Map of Israeli Settlements:
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...ements_416.gif
Area - comparative: slightly more than twice the size of Washington, DC
Bordering Countries: Egypt, Israel
Climate: temperate, mild winters, dry and warm to hot summers
Terrain: flat to rolling, sand- and dune-covered coastal plain
Environment - current issues: desertification; salination of fresh water; sewage treatment; water-borne disease; soil degradation; depletion and contamination of underground water resources
Natural hazards: droughts
Population: 1,376,289, Population growth rate: 3.77% Birth rate: 40.03 births/1,000 population, Death rate: 3.87 deaths/1,000 population, Net migration rate: 1.54 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: NA, HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: NA, HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA
Ethnic groups: Palestinian Arab and other 99.4%, Jewish 0.6%, Religions: Muslim (predominantly Sunni) 98.7%, Christian 0.7%, Jewish 0.6%, Languages: Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians), English (widely understood)
Disputes - international: West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; Israel announced its intention to pull out settlers and withdraw from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Refugees and internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin): 922,674 (Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)) (2004)
Currency (code): new Israeli shekel (ILS)
Economy - overview: High population density, limited land access, and strict internal and external controls have kept economic conditions in the Gaza Strip - the smaller of the two areas under the Palestinian Authority - even more degraded than in the West Bank. An anticipated Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 may offer some medium-term opportunities for economic growth. The beginning of the second intifadah in September 2000 sparked an economic downturn, largely the result of Israeli closure policies; these policies, which were imposed in response to security interests in Israel, disrupted labor and commodity relationships with the Gaza Strip. In 2001, and even more severely in 2003, Israeli military measures in Palestinian Authority areas resulted in the destruction of much capital plant, the disruption of administrative structure, and widespread business closures. Including the West Bank, the UN estimates that more than 100,000 Palestinians out of the 125,000 who used to work in Israel or in joint industrial zones have lost their jobs. International aid of $2 billion to Gaza Strip and the West Bank in 2004 prevented the complete collapse of the economy and allowed some reforms in the government's financial operations. Meanwhile unemployment has continued at half the labor force. ARAFAT's death in 2004 leaves open more political options that could affect the economy
Military: in accordance with the peace agreement, the Palestinian Authority is not permitted conventional military forces; there are, however, public security forces (2002)
Sources:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/gz.html
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...aps/gz-map.gif
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4171982.stm
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...ements_416.gif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip
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