=======================================

@Gaza Strip

Introduction
Gaza Strip

Background:

The September 1993 Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim
Self-Government Arrangements provided for a transitional period of
Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under a
series of agreements signed between May 1994 and September 1999,
Israel transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) security and
civilian responsibility for Palestinian-populated areas of the West
Bank and Gaza. Negotiations to determine the permanent status of the
West Bank and Gaza stalled following the outbreak of an intifada in
September 2000, as Israeli forces reoccupied most
Palestinian-controlled areas. In April 2003, the Quartet (US, EU,
UN, and Russia) presented a roadmap to a final settlement of the
conflict by 2005 based on reciprocal steps by the two parties
leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine. The
proposed date for a permanent status agreement was postponed
indefinitely due to violence and accusations that both sides had not
followed through on their commitments. Following Palestinian leader
Yasir ARAFAT's death in late 2004, Mahmud ABBAS was elected PA
president in January 2005. A month later, Israel and the PA agreed
to the Sharm el-Sheikh Commitments in an effort to move the peace
process forward. In September 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew all
its settlers and soldiers and dismantled its military facilities in
the Gaza Strip and withdrew settlers and redeployed soldiers from
four small northern West Bank settlements. Nonetheless, Israel
controls maritime, airspace, and most access to the Gaza Strip. A
November 2005 PA-Israeli agreement authorized the reopening of the
Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt under joint
PA and Egyptian control. In January 2006, the Islamic Resistance
Movement, HAMAS, won control of the Palestinian Legislative Council
(PLC). The international community refused to accept the HAMAS-led
government because it did not recognize Israel, would not renounce
violence, and refused to honor previous peace agreements between
Israel and the PA. HAMAS took control of the PA government in March
2006, but President ABBAS had little success negotiating with HAMAS
to present a political platform acceptable to the international
community so as to lift economic sanctions on Palestinians. The PLC
was unable to convene throughout most of 2006 as a resul