Guardian: Q&A: Gaza and West Bank withdrawal

[NVMojo]

What is the Gaza Strip?

It is a coastal region in the south-eastern corner of the Mediterranean that was administered by Egypt from 1949, occupied by Israel in 1967 and granted autonomy in 1993. It has been administered by the Palestinian National Authority from 1994, and has a population of around 1.4 million people, the overwhelming majority (around 99%) of whom are Palestinian. It has an 11km border with Egypt and a 51km border with Israel.

Who are the settlers?

Following the six day war in 1967, Israel had a policy of supporting, sponsoring or just tolerating the migration of Jewish families into newly-occupied land in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. International controversy has raged ever since, with Palestinians claiming their land has been stolen. Some Jewish settlers have maintained they are simply returning to communities lost in 1948 or before.

What is the legal position?

Article 49 (6) of the Geneva convention prohibits an occupying power from transferring "parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies". Israel has always argued that the West Bank and Gaza Strip are not sovereign states, and so are not governed by the convention.

What is going on?

On August 15, Israel will begin withdrawing more than 8,000 of its citizens from the entire Gaza Strip and more than 300 square miles of the northern West Bank. Israelis will be removed - forcibly if necessary - from 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank. The move has been compared to when Israel withdrew from the Sinai peninsula in 1982, returning it to Egyptian control.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1542507,00.html