In the wake of Operation Protective Edge, in which more than 2000 Palestinians were killed by Israel, a basic question is addressed “Why is Gaza such a problem for Israel?”

1. Why does Israel see Gaza as an
“existential threat”?
Peter Larson
Chair,
National Education Committee
on Israel-Palestine

2. Outline
• Where is Gaza?
• What is an “existential threat”?
• Hamas as a military threat
• How did it come to this? – a bit of history
• Gaza today
• Who lives there
• Deteriorating situation
• The rights of refugees
• Why is Gaza a special problem
• Conclusions
Ahlar Arab Hospital in Gaza – supported by
Anglican Church

3. A little
geography
reminder….. Haifa
Acre

4. Definition: Existential threat
That which challenges the very existence of a person or group of people
Examples of “existential threats”
• Thermonuclear war
• Catastrophic climate change
• Genocide
• Desertification
• invasion

5. Military capability
Israel Gaza
Pop’n 8 million 1.8 million
GDP $300 Bn (US) $6.6 Bn
Per capita GDP $36 K (us) $6 K
Armed forces (active and reserve) 600,000 10,000
Attack aircraft 600 0
Helicopter gunships 191 0
Self Propelled Guns 176 0
Tanks 3780 0
Light armoured vehicles (LAV) 9436 0
Naval ships 110 0
Nuclear weapons 80 – 100 0
Rockets ??? 5000?
Source: Janes Military Aircraft, CIA world fact book, Israeli sources, USA Today

6. Damage incurred during Operation Protective Edge
Israel Gaza
Mortalities 64 mil’ry +6 civils 2160
Severely injured
Infrastructure destroyed ??? hundreds of buildings, including
hospitals, schools, medical clinics,
power station, sewage pumping facilities,
roads, etc.
Left: Israeli examines a hole left by Hamas rocket

7. Gaza after “Protective Edge”

9. How did it come to this?
- A bit of history
Nov. 1947 – United Nations decides to divide Palestine in two in
order to create a new State for Jews

10. UN Partition plan
• Israel 56%, Arab state 43%
•Jaffa Palestinian
•Jerusalem to be international
Post 1949 truce
 Israel 72%
 Jaffa Israeli
 Jordan controls WB
 Gaza smaller and
under Egyptian
protection
 Jerusalem divided

11. The “Naqba” (Dec. ‘47 – Dec. ‘48)
 Starting immediately after UN vote, in
December ‘47, Jewish militias move to
“liberate” Israel of Palestinians
 by May 15th, 400,000 Palestinians
expelled
 the operation continues another 6 months
- in total about 750,000 flee

12. About 100,000 fled to Gaza
• After Jaffa, Gaza biggest Palestinian city
• Relatively rich - Best agricultural land along the coast
• The major agricultural products are strawberries, citrus, dates,
olives, flowers, and various vegetables
• Heading for safety to Egypt

13. Twenty years later, Israel military
completes takeover of historic
Palestine
• 1967 – “the Six Day War”
• defeats Jordan to take over the West Bank,
(which it calls Samaria and Judea)
• And defeats Egypt to take over Gaza

14. Where are the
Palestinians today?
1. West Bank 2.4 M
2. Gaza 1.8 M
3. Israel 1.4 M
4. Refugees
(Lebanon, Jordan, Syria)* 3.7 M
5. Diaspora 2.0 M
Total 11.3 M
* - there are also refugee camps
in Gaza and the WB
Israel 1.4 M
West Bank 2.4 M
Gaza 1.8 M

15. Gaza today
Approximately 1.8 million
Of whom
• 1.2 million refugees
• 600,000 “Gazans”
• Total area 365 km2
• (15% of Ottawa)
• Under almost complete
Israeli blockade
• Parched, but surrounded
by rich farm land

16. Facts & Figures
• 1,240,082 registered
Palestine refugees
• Eight camps
• 245 schools with
232,384 pupils
• Two vocational and technical
training centres
• 22 primary health centres
• Eight community
rehabilitation centres
• Ten women’s programme
centres
Figures as of 1 January 2014
Source: UNRWA

17. Suffocating Gaza – The Israeli blockade’s effect on
Palestinians
Israel's military blockade of Gaza has left more than 1.4 million Palestinian men, women
and children trapped in the Gaza Strip, an area of land just 40 kilometers long.
Mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price rises caused by shortages have left
four in five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. As a form of collective punishment,
Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza is a flagrant violation of international law

19. 03 September 2014
“Palestinian economic deterioration, which is largely rooted in the territory's
occupied status, has resulted in weak growth, a precarious fiscal position, forced
dependence on the Israeli economy, mass unemployment, wider and deeper
poverty, and greater food insecurity.”
NOTE: This report prepared before Operation Protective Edge

20. Trying to get out
65 years of fruitless negotiations
2006 Hamas elected
• Hamas elected (76 of 132 members).
• Hamas leaders in Gaza not allowed to
come to Ramallah
• Israel cut off relations, starts complete
blockade
• Economic conditions in Gaza deteriorate
rapidly
• Their issues completely ignored in “Peace
negotiations”
Hamas program
• Dig tunnels to get out and get goods in
• Send rockets into Israel
• Israel responds:
• Operation Pillar of Cloud
• Operation Cast Lead
• Operation Protective Edge

21. “Protective
edge”
Israeli attacks on Gaza
focused on refugee
camps
This was also true in
• Operation Cast Lead
• Operation Pillar of
Cloud

23. Where are the Palestinian refugees?
• There are 5 million Palestinian
refugees
• Their right to return is supported by
international law (and fairness)
• But they are mostly distributed in 58
UN refugee camps in 3 different
countries (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan)
• They are not an effective
political/military force
• Israel hopes that they will
“eventually’ be absorbed into their
“host” countries

24. Why is Gaza special?
Gaza is the biggest concentration of refugees (over 1 million) and they are still on
Palestinian soil.
They have no place to go… but back home
But Israel doesn’t want to allow them to return
Because they are not Jewish and if they return Israel will no longer be a “Jewish
State”
This is an existential threat to
The Israel as a Jewish State

25. What are Israel’s options?
1. Exterminate the Palestinians in Gaza
2. Drive them out of Gaza
 Militarily – by killing leadership
 Economically - make Gaza unliveable
 Diplomatically – by moving their refugee camps to Egypt
3. Say “sorry” and begin a process of truth and reconciliation

26. Until the refugees are
accommodated,
exterminated or
dispersed, Israel will have
a big problem on its
hands

27. Conclusion
• Gaza is an “existential threat” to the Jewish State of Israel
• The threat lies in the 1 million Gazan refugees who want to return but can’t because
they are not Jewish
• The refugee camps in Gaza are the “flip side” of the “ethnically cleansed” State of
Israel
• Until this is resolved, the refugees in Gaza will continue to resist, and Israel will be
obliged to continue to bomb and attack them.
• Canadian values of fairness and human rights should impel us to push Israel towards a
process of truth and reconciliation