Word: stripping
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Gaza was conquered by the Philistines in the 13th century B.C., razed by the Hasmonean Kingdom and suffered incursions from the likes of Napoleon and Alexander the Great, whose army put the entire male population to death for refusing to surrender. (See pictures of the conflict in the Gaza Strip...
...Gaza became densely populated with Arab refugees expelled from the newly independent Israel. While in the West Bank, Jordan offered citizenship to many of the refugees, Egypt did not extend the offer to Gazans; they remained under Egyptian military rule until Israel reoccupied the strip following the 6-day war against the Arab States in 1967. Gaza and the West Bank remained under Israeli occupation and military control for nearly 30 years, during which the Palestinians of the region struggled achieve independence while clashing with Jewish settlers encroaching into Palestinian territories...
...mismanagement of the occupied areas, combined with Israel's refusal to dismantle the remaining settlements, fractured the accord and led to a second Palestinian Intifada in 2000. Israeli withdrawal of forces and settlements in Gaza came only in 2005, after which Hamas increased their influence in the strip, edging out rival group Fatah, a more secular offshoot of the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas...
...refusal to relinquish control following the election forced an explosive week-long showdown between western-backed Fatah forces and Hamas; the infighting culminated the expulsion of Fatah security forces from Gaza and a de facto divide of the territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority between the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which remained under Fatah control...
...Following the battle, Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in an attempt to strangle the strip's economy and undermine Hamas' abilty to govern. Human rights groups say the blockade, which prevents Gazans from leaving and goods and aid from entering, has caused a serious humanitarian crisis in the area. Hamas has responded to the siege by regularly raining rockets into southern Israeli towns from Gaza. Despite mutual agreement in June 2008 to a 6-month ceasefire, Israel continued their blockade of Gaza and Hamas responded with sporadic mortar hits. After the expiration of the truce on December...