Gaza

Gaza (Arabic Ghazze), principal city of the Gaza Strip. Gaza is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Sinai Peninsula and southwest of Jerusalem, on a road that links Egypt with central Israel. A city of historical and religious importance, Gaza has been disputed since ancient times. Along with the rest of the Gaza Strip, Gaza came under Israeli occupation in 1967. In May 1994 the city became the headquarters of the new Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which administers Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. In August 2005 Israel began a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Gaza is the economic center for a region in which citrus fruits and other crops are grown. The city contains some small industry, including textiles and food processing. A variety of wares are sold in Gaza's street bazaars, including carpets, pottery, wicker furniture, and cotton clothing; commercial development in the city is minimal. Gaza serves as a transportation hub for the Gaza Strip, and contains a small port that serves a local fishing fleet. Points of interest in Gaza include the Great Mosque, a structure built during the Crusades and later transformed into a mosque; Samson's Monument, which commemorates the biblical hero Samson, who is believed to be buried under the Great Mosque; and Al Jundi, or the Square of the Unknown Soldier, built by the Egyptian army.

Gaza's population is composed almost entirely of Muslim Palestinian Arabs (see Palestine); nearly all of the city's Jewish inhabitants left during the early 20th century, due largely to ethnic strife. A massive influx of Palestinian refugees swelled Gaza's population after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948; by 1967 the population had grown to about six times its 1948 size. The city's population has continued to increase since that time, and poverty, unemployment, and poor living conditions are widespread. Gaza has serious deficiencies in housing and infrastructure, and an inadequate sewage system has contributed to serious problems of hygiene and public health.

Strategically located on the Mediterranean coastal route, ancient Gaza was a prosperous trade center and a stop on the caravan route between Egypt and Syria. The city was occupied by Egypt around the 15th century bc. Philistines settled the area several hundred years later, and Gaza became one of their chief cities. Gaza is mentioned a number of times in the Bible, most famously as the site where Samson brought down the Philistine temple on himself and his enemies.

Gaza was captured by Arabs in the ad 600s. Believed to be the site where the Prophet Muhammad's great-grandfather was buried, the city became an important Islamic center (see Muhammad; Islam). In the 12th century Gaza was taken by Christian Crusaders, under whom the city declined in prominence; it returned to Muslim control in 1187. The city fell to the Ottomans in the 16th century and was taken by the British during World War I (1914-1918).

Following World War I, Gaza became part of the British mandate for Palestine. After Israel declared its independence in 1948, Egypt attacked Israel and took over Gaza and its surrounding area. Israel occupied the city and the Gaza Strip during the 1967 Six-Day War, and Gaza remained under Israeli administration for the next 27 years.

With the onset of the Palestinian uprising known as the intifada in 1987, Gaza became a center of political unrest and confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians, and economic conditions in the city worsened. In September 1993 leaders of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed a peace agreement calling for Palestinian administration of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, which was implemented in May 1994. Most of the Israeli forces left Gaza, leaving a new Palestinian National Authority to administer and police the city, along with the rest of the Gaza Strip and Jericho. The Palestinian National Authority, led by Yasir Arafat, chose Gaza as its first provincial headquarters. In September 1995 Israel and the PLO signed a second peace agreement extending the Palestinian National Authority to almost all West Bank towns populated by Palestinians. The agreement also established an elected 88-member Palestinian Legislative Council, which held its inaugural session in Gaza in March 1996. In 2005 Israel’s parliament approved a decision to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip. In August Israeli forces began evacuating Israeli settlers from the territory. Population (1997 estimate) 353,632.