The Gaza Strip is one of the "hot spots of the planet". The conflict in the Gaza Strip is part of the Arab-Israeli conflict that has lasted since the emergence of the State of Israel.
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, part of its territory in the Middle East was ruled by Great Britain under the mandate of the League of Nations. In 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution according to which the British Mandate was terminated, and in this territory it was recommended to create by 1948 two states - an Arab and a Jewish.
The Arab community considered this division of Palestine to be unfair, because many Arabs lived in the territory, which, according to the UN plan, was given to the Jewish state. Immediately after Israel was proclaimed in May 1948, the Arab League declared war on the new country. Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Iraq and Lebanon were involved in the attack on Israel. This is how the Arab-Israeli conflict began, which lasted for many years.
Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip is an area of 360 sq. km with the capital in the city of Gaza. It borders Israel in the northeast and Egypt in the southwest.
The UN plan for the partition of Palestine assumed that the Gaza Strip would become part of an Arab state, but it was never created as a result of the war that began in 1948. During this war, the Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt and remained under its control until 1967. Many Arabs who had previously lived in the territories ceded to Israel moved to the Gaza Strip. The population of the territory is two-thirds of these refugees and their descendants.
Starting from the 50s of the 20th century, terrorist groups regularly infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip, organizing sabotage and terrorist acts. The Israeli army launched retaliatory raids. The actions of Arab terrorists dictated to Israel the need to take control of the Gaza Strip.
Struggle for the Gaza Strip
Israel managed to establish control over the Gaza Strip in 1956, but three months later, through the efforts of the United States and the USSR, it returned to Egypt.
In 1967, during the Six Day War between Israel and several Arab countries, the Gaza Strip again came under Israeli control. Residents were not forced to accept Israeli citizenship, but Jewish settlements began to be created on the territory. The UN and other international organizations considered this a violation of international law, but Israel did not agree with this, stating that this territory did not previously belong to another state, therefore, it cannot be considered occupied. The existence of Israeli settlements has become the main controversial point in the Gaza Strip.
In 2005, all Israeli citizens were evacuated from the area, and the troops were withdrawn, but control over the airspace and territorial waters was retained. In this regard, the Gaza Strip is still considered a territory occupied by Israel. At the same time, rocket attacks were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip, which was the reason for the military operations undertaken by Israel in 2008 and 2012.
The situation in the Gaza Strip remains tense. Both Israeli and Palestinian observers acknowledge that the territory has become an enclave of terrorism.
