-
say their claim to the land is based on a promise from God, and also for the need
for a safe haven from widespread hostility toward the Jewish people (known as anti-Semitism) -
Arab-Israeli WarPalestine was divided into the areas you see here. Jewish Israelis, whose ancestors
began migrating to the area in the 1880s, say their claim to the land is based on a promise from God -
The Palestinian Arabs say
they are the rightful inhabitants of the land because their ancestors have lived there for hundreds of years -
Gaza was turned over to the newly created Palestinian Authority, to form one
wing of an emerging Palestinian state, along with the West Bank and a potential land corridor between them -
In September 2005 the Israeli prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon, withdrew all Israeli settlers from Gaza, making it the
first territory completely in Palestinian hands. -
Hamas won a surprise victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, ousting the Fatah government.
Then in a burst of fighting in June 2007 in which more than 100 people were killed, Hamas gunmen routed the Fatah forces,
and seized control of Gaza outright -
Hamas government, responded by clamping
down even tighter on the flow of goods and people in and out of the territories. -
Hamas and Israel were both ready to reach some sort of accommodation, and the six-month truce was
declared, although never formally defined
