The Real Gaza Origin Story
Let’s start by find the right word and doing the math.
1) Word
Palestine is Roman for Province Palestina; taken from Greek, Palaistinē (see Herodotus); but whose origin is Hebrew: Pelesheth. It translates to “Philistia” or land of the Philistines. That means ‘from the Aegean Sea’ or what today we would call ancient Greece.
2) Math
The word “algebra” is derived from the Arabic word الجبر al-jabr (meaning reunion of broken parts), from a treatise written in the Islamic golden age of 830 by Persian mathematician, Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (from where we get the word algorithm). His work was called kitāb al-ḥisāb al-hindī or “Book of Indian computation” based on ideas he adapted from Indian mathematicians writing 1,000 years earlier.
Hence, the Real Story of Gaza begins with an al-Khwārizmī algebraic equation:
Palestine = Hebrew word meaning Ancient Greece
3) History
British Mandate Palestine (referring to all the lands of the Israel, TransJordan, the Arabian peninsula, including Lebanon and Syria) was under the control of the Ottoman Empire until 1917. It was a mixture of Arabs, Christians, Jews, Kurds, and other ethnic groups.
In 1922, it came under British colonial rule, lasting nearly three decades. During these years, many Jewish immigrants, primarily from Eastern Europe, where Nazism was on the rise, arrived in British Mandate Palestine to escape religious persecution.
In the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the British government recognized the nascent Zionist movement. It committed to creating a Jewish nation in Palestine alongside Arabs living in the same region under the control of the now-deposed Ottoman Empire.
Wrong Side
After the defeat of the Nazis in World War II, in which Palestine supported the Germans and Hitler, Britain handed over the authority of Palestine to the United Nations. 1948, the United Nations approved a two-state plan, which Arab leaders rejected. Israel declared statehood.
In May 1948, war erupted between Israel and five neighboring Arab states, resulting in Israel’s victory and significant territorial gains, including Jerusalem. Thousands of Palestinians, fleeing the violence of battle and assured that Israel would be defeated, hoping to return to a land ethnically cleansed of Jews, left their villages, fled to the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, and Gaza, which was recently captured by the Egyptian army.
Egypt administered the Gaza Strip for two decades, during which Palestinians had the opportunity to work and receive education in Egypt. The fedayeen, a group of Palestinian fighters, engaged in military actions against Israel during this time, leading to several costly Israeli counterattacks.
After Egypt and four other Arab countries attacked Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, Israel took control of the Gaza Strip and ousted the Egyptians. While the Israeli military governed the territory, many Gazans found employment within settlements outside of Gaza.
Unrest
In 1987, civil unrest escalated following an incident where an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) truck collided with a civilian car, resulting in the deaths of four Palestinian workers. Gazans perceived this as a deliberate attack, leading to strikes and stone-throwing demonstrations.
Seizing the opportunity, the Muslim Brotherhood formed a militant offshoot in Gaza known as Hamas. In a short time, Hamas became a significant rival to Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Hamas’ stated mission is the destruction of Israel.
In 1993, Israel and the PLO reached the Oslo Accords. This historic peace agreement established the Palestinian Authority and granted it limited control over Gaza and Jericho in the West Bank. However, Hamas gained influence among disillusioned Gazans in the years that followed.
Suicide Bombers
The 21st century brought further tensions, with suicide bombings and shootings by Hamas in 2000 met with Israeli curfews and checkpoints throughout Gaza. Yasser Arafat inaugurated the Second Intifada which resulted in high numbers of casualties among Israeli civilians as well as combatants. Palestinians suicide bombings were a prominent feature of the fighting and mainly targeted Israeli civilians.
The violence is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,000 Israelis, as well as 64 foreigners. It also augured the decline of the Gaza economy. Facing severe concerns about weapons smuggling, in 2005, Israel withdrew entirely from Gaza, evacuating several settlements in a land-for-peace deal.
America To The Rescue
James Wolfensohn, a Jewish American multimillionaire familiar with the world’s decision makers, was appointed to guide Sharon. The 73-year-old ex-president of the World Bank, who had just retired from the institution, accepted the role of Quartet Special Envoy, encompassing the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.
His mission was to turn around Gaza’s economy, which had been bled dry after the Second Intifada (2000–2005). Using his address book, the New York philanthropist collected $9 billion in pledges. Seen from abroad, hope did not seem to be forbidden. The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman even predicted that Gaza could become the “Dubai on the Mediterranean.” That never materialized under Hamas rule, however.
Hamas won parliamentary elections in Gaza in 2006, took control, and never held subsequent elections. Egypt also imposed stringent restrictions on its border with Gaza and destroyed tunnels connecting the two areas.
Iran’s Puppet
In 2014, Hamas fired rockets at Israeli cities, leading to Israeli airstrikes that caused significant casualties, primarily among civilians. Hamas often positioned itself in urban areas and used human shields, a tactic noted as far back as 2007 by NATO’s Center for Strategic Communications.
The world has witnessed the violence that erupted on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israeli civilians during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret. In response, Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza, causing extensive destruction.
According to U.S. government officials, Iran reportedly supports Hamas with training, instructions on assembling advanced missiles, and financial aid of up to $100 million annually, contributing to the scale of this recent attack. An IDF spokesperson has described October 7 as “by far the worst day in Israeli history,” drawing comparisons to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.
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