Why didn’t Israel give up Gaza?
In 2005, Israel officially withdrew from the Gaza Strip. But the withdrawal did not end Israel’s effective control of the Palestinian territory in all vital regards, thus inflaming Palestinian resentment rather than diffusing it
Israel continues to maintain complete control over the air and sea space of the Gaza Strip. No Palestinian may operate a seaport or an airport without Israeli approval, which limits Palestinians’ freedom of trade and travel.
Israel continues to control the joint Gaza Strip-West Bank population registry, which means Israel gets to decide who is a “Palestinian resident” and who is a “foreigner.” Palestinians must seek Israeli approval for every individual who wants to move to the West Bank.
The Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was supposedly turned over to the Palestinian Authority. In fact, Israel continues to control the crossing to the extent that it may bar entry to “foreigners”—that is, Palestinians who are not residents of the Occupied Territories—or anyone it deems a security risk.
Israel continues to maintain complete control of the movement of people and goods between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which Israel considers a “closed military area” off limits to anyone without a permit. West Bank residents are also forbidden from traveling abroad, including to the Gaza Strip, without a difficult-to-obtain Israeli permit.
As far as trade is concerned, Israel controls the three crossing points in and out of Gaza (Karni, Sufa, and Kerem Shalom). Israel routinely closes the crossings to any exchange of goods, causing severe food and other shortages in Gaza.
Israel still controls taxation and other levies in Gaza.
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March 1st, 2009 at 11:05 pm
LONG LIVE ISRAEL……
LONG LIVE ISRAEL……
LONG LIVE ISRAEL……
LONG LIVE ISRAEL……
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
THEY ARE TRYING TO LIMIT THE DESTRUCTIVE POLICIES OF HAMAS
March 4th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
bet ya eat your eggs rare. They are not done yet.
March 5th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Stop putting those secret codes in your questions, so annoying.
March 7th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Israel did give up Gaza–Hamas refused to take it–they wanted to fight instead of have peace–so Hamas gets their wish of fighting.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
If people vowed to wipe me off the planet lived next door to me I would do everything possible to prevent them from bringing in weapons and soldiers. Since it is known that Iran is shipping in arms and has plenty of volunteer suicide bombers I think Israel is wise in it decisions.
March 11th, 2009 at 2:22 am
B/C the ppl ruling in Gaza are terrorists. Terrorists and democracies clash and terrorists have to be handled with a strong arm. The freedom that israel allowed them, they used to attack innocent Israeli citizens. What don’t you get?
March 12th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
the ppl of gaza can’t be trusted to act with good faith. perhaps, if they hadn’t told so many lies, launched so many rockets, promoted so many suicide missions and sworn death to Israel sooooo many times, they wouldn’t find themselves being babysat like little children.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Because a state that relies on expansion by means of genocide and illegal land confiscation has to do it or it would defeat it’s purpose.
March 16th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I seriously doubt that any Israeli can operate a seaport or airport without Israels approval either.
In fact most if not all of the restrictions you mention apply to not only Israelis, but Americans.
I can’t travel without a passport and can’t just walk onto a military base.
Israel has learned through the years not to give the Palestinians too much rope because when they do THEY LET TERRORIST WITH FREAKING ROCKETS IN AND LET THEM SHOOT THEM AT ISRAEL!!!.
March 19th, 2009 at 5:34 am
Excellent post Caroline. That is why Israel hates Hamas; they fight back. Unlike the other group Fatah, who gives in all the time to Israel and is currently controlling the West Bank.
Many in Israel protest this. They also want Palestine freed. The radicals however, want to annex all of Palestine. Damn bastards. They broke the effing truce and try blaming Hamas.
It is part of the Zionist agenda, my love.
March 20th, 2009 at 5:41 am
Israel controls trade in and out of Gaza in an attempt to limit the influx of weapons…
based on the number they have now.. darn good thing they did… when Palestinians take responsibility for their own people and punish those that wage war on Israel perhaps then they will get independence.. but as long as they allow their citizins to wage war. they will have to suffer as a captured people
March 21st, 2009 at 11:31 am
, … that’s a lot of “control”-ing !
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:43 am
Thanks for the history lesson.
And in all that time, what did Palestinians do to advance their autonomy?
They elected a terrorist organization as their leadership, one that has expressed the explicit role of ending the state of Israel through armed and violent resistance.
This same group, Hamas, has continued to arm itself by any means necessary, and launched rockets with the intent of killing Israeli civilians, even during a declared ceasefire.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:28 am
I hope Israel continues to dominate…Hamas needs punished
March 24th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Israeli security is know around the world for their competence, and ability to get the job done regardless of how YOU perceive it.
If only the US took security so seriously a vast majority of the illegal alien criminals wouldn’t see this country.
March 27th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Why don’t the U.S. give up New York or New Mexico or Texas…….Same reason Israel should not give up Gaza
March 27th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
And yet Hamas, et.al. continue to smuggle arms, etc. in to bomb and kill Israelis.
March 30th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Sorry Caroline, I side with virtually every other answerer of this question.
I do however, have one to ask of you. If you are so enamored of Hamas, the Palestinians and Gaza, why are you here instead of there?
Don’t you believe your energies could be better spent saving the Palestinians in person?
I will not stoop to insulting you, as have some others out here. Instead, I will feel sorry for you and hope that you will spend some time studying the situation over there and possibly, begin to see the problem from the Israeli’s point of view.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Well, Hamas has a tendency to send suicide bombers into Israel when they are not firing rockets into populated areas; these activities do not engender a great deal of trust. Besides, Hamas has decided to convert the Gaza strip into a graveyard. Do you know the geography of the area? I don’t think Israel should have given what they did away given the size of Israel and the proximity of their adversaries. How come you don’t ask any other arab country to give up land: ones with more land to give? Considering the British Empire or the UN drew the borders of the Middle east to begin with, that would be a feasible option.
April 4th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Same reason the North didn’t give up the South in the American Civil war, they’d stolen that land fair and square and they didn’t want to give it up, who cares what the people who live there think?