United Arab Republic occupation of the Gaza Strip

The United Arab Republic occupation of the Gaza Strip began in 1959. This happened after the end of a small country called the All-Palestine Protectorate, which had been controlled by Egypt since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The Gaza Strip is a small area next to Israel.

After the war in 1949, the Gaza Strip was controlled by Egypt. In 1949, Egypt created a government called the All-Palestine Government. This government was mostly symbolic and did not have real power. It stopped existing in 1959 when Egypt joined with another country to form the United Arab Republic.

For a short time in 1956 and 1957, Israel took control of the Gaza Strip during a conflict called the Suez Crisis. But Egypt took control again until the Six-Day War in 1967. After that war, Israel took control of the Gaza Strip.

Today, Egypt supports the idea of an independent Palestinian state that would include the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which is also controlled by Israel.

Background

British Mandate

After the First World War, the League of Nations gave the United Kingdom control over a land called the Mandate for Palestine. This land included places like the Gaza Strip. The British officially took control on 24 July 1922.

1948 Arab–Israeli War

On 15 May 1948, the British left Palestine. Before that, the United Nations General Assembly had voted to split Palestine into two states, one for Jewish people and one for Arab people. Fighting broke out, and on 14 May 1948, David Ben-Gurion announced Israel's independence. The next day, armies from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria attacked, starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip, but later Israel pushed them out and made Egypt agree to a truce on 7 January 1949. After this, Egypt kept control of the Gaza Strip.

Egypt's All-Palestine Protectorate (1948–1959)

During the war, the Arab League created something called the All-Palestine Protectorate to govern Palestine. After the war, only the Gaza Strip was under this group, but its leaders moved to Cairo and had little real power there.

On 24 February 1949, Israel and Egypt signed an agreement. This set the borders, and Egypt kept control of the land along the Mediterranean Sea, which became the Gaza Strip.

Suez Crisis (1956)

In 1956, Egypt took control of a water path called the Suez Canal and blocked it to ships from Israel. France and the United Kingdom supported Israel. In October 1956, Israel, France, and the United Kingdom invaded the Gaza Strip and a place called Sinai. Later, they had to leave because of pressure from other countries.

History

United Arab Republic (1958–1971)

In 1959, the Gaza Strip became part of the United Arab Republic, a short time when Egypt and Syria were joined together. Syria left in 1961, but Egypt kept the name United Arab Republic until 1971, when it changed back to the Arab Republic of Egypt. In 1962, the government there set up a group called the Palestinian Legislative Council that the people of Gaza elected.

When the Palestine Liberation Organization started in 1964, its leaders said it would control Gaza, but this never really happened. A year later, they began requiring people to join the military for the Palestine Liberation Army.

1967 Arab–Israeli War

From June 5 to June 10, 1967, a big war called the Six-Day War took place. After this war ended, Israel took control of the Gaza Strip, as well as the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

Camp David Accords (1978)

In 1978, Israel and Egypt signed an important agreement called the Camp David Accords. This agreement ended fighting between the two countries and talked about letting the people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have their own government.

Egypt–Israel peace treaty (1979)

In 1979, Egypt and Israel signed another agreement, the Egypt–Israel peace treaty. This made Egypt the first Arab country to officially say that Israel was a real country. Since then, Egypt has supported the idea of two separate countries: one for Israel and another for the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Both areas have been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 war.

Economy and demographics

When many people moved to Gaza during the 1948 war, life became harder for everyone there. The government made it difficult for people to leave or find work outside Gaza, so many struggled to make ends meet. By 1955, a United Nations worker noticed that hundreds of thousands of poor people were living in a small area, feeling trapped and unable to improve their situation.