Search

The Online Encyclopedia and Dictionary

 
     
 

Encyclopedia

Dictionary

Quotes

   
 

Gush Katif

Gush Katif (also Gush Katiff) is a block of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Contents

Settlements in Gush Katif

  • Eley Sinai אלי סיני
  • Bedolah בדולח (lit. Crystal)
  • Bney Atzmon בני עצמון
  • Gadid גדיד (lit. picking of palm tree fruits)
  • Gan Or גן אור (lit. Garden of light)
  • Ganey Tal גני טל (lit. Gardens of dew)
  • Dugit דוגית (lit. Fishing boat)
  • Kfar Darom כפר דרום (lit. South Village)
  • Kfar Yam כפר ים (lit. Village of sea)
  • Kerem Atzmona כרם עצמונה
  • Morag מורג (lit. Harvest scythe)
  • Neve Dkalim נוה דקלים (lit. Palm tree Oasis)
  • Nisanit ניסנית
  • Netzer Hazani נצר חזני
  • Netzarim נצרים
  • Pe'at Sade פאת שדה (lit. the edge of the field)
  • Katif קטיף (lit. harvest, picking of flowers)
  • Rafiah Yam רפיח ים
  • Shirat ha-Yam שירת הים (lit. Singing of the Sea)
  • Shalev שליו (lit. Peaceful)
  • Tel Katifa תל קטיפא

Except Eley Sinay, Dugit, Nisanim, Netzarim and Kfar Darom - all the Gush Katif settlements are concentrated in one block in the south-west edge of the Gaza Strip and are surrounded by fence.

Geography

Gush Katif is located in the south edge of the Gaza Strip, along the Mediterranean Sea coast. The main road between Gush Katif and the outside of the Gaza Strip ("proper" Israel) is through the Kissufim junction. The main road which connects Gush Katif with Kfar Darom and Netzarim (known as "Tencher Road") strays from south-to-north.

Demography

Gush Katif has about 7000 residents. Most of them are religious Jews (see: Religious Zionism and Mafdal) and the rest are secular Jews.

See also: Israeli settlement/Gaza Strip Israeli Population Statistics.

Controversy

Gush Katif is located in the Gaza Strip, part of the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six Days War. According to the Geneva Convention, a country should not settle its own population in an occupied territory, but since the legal status of the "Occupied Territories" is itself disputed, so is the legality of the settlements there. Therefore, the status of the settlements in Gush Katif is internationally disputed. See further discussion in Israeli Settlements - International and Legal Background.

In Israeli public opinion, the settlements in the Gaza Strip, especially Gush Katif, are not unanimously accepted and many have lamented in public the benefit of settling population in the region. Some claim, as reserve soldiers who served in Gaza Strip also testified, that in some settlements only a few houses are occupied. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, referring to that fact, claimed that he does not believe that Nazarim is a "real" settlement (but a "ghost settlement") and stated "If Nezarim is a settlement, I am a Kugellager" (ball-bearing). However, other thinks that Gush Katif settlements are important to Israel's security in order to prevent heavy bombardment of long-range Katyusha rockets on Israeli towns such as Sderot and Ashkelon.

By the end of 2004, Ariel Sharon annouced that he plans to evacuate some of the settlements in Gush Katif, despite fierce opposition from within the Likud and its coalition partner, the NRP (Mafdal). See main article: Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2004.

Terror attacks on Gush Katif

Although the Gush Katif settlements and the roads leading to it are guarded by armed Israeli soldiers in watchtowers, settlers are still vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Since the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada, Gush Katif settlements have seen several attacks by Palestinian terrorists. More than 4,000 mortar shells and Qassam rockets were launched over Gush Katif, causing only 2 fatalities (this number does not include 2 more that were killed in Sderot), a fact which the residents attribute to God's supervision (i.e. a miracle). Most of the ground terror attacks are infiltrations and shooting attacks. In one of these attacks, three Palestinian children, aged 14, 12 and 8-10, infiltrated a settlement and tried to stab a Jewish child. There were even attempts to infilitrate by sea.

In the adjacent city of Rafah, daily gun battles between Palestinian Militants, mainly from Hamas, and Israeli Defense Forces have left hundreds of Palestinians, a small minority of these civilians (many of whom have gotten too close to the fighting at their own risk, usually to attempt to stop the IDF firing on the militants because they are in the vicinity) dead and thousands injured. Palestinian attacks on Israeli vehicles traveling in Kissufim road are also very common. In one of these attacks, Palestinian terrorists massacred a pregnant mother and her four daughters.

Many of the ground attacks on Gush Katif have been thwarted by the Israeli Defence Forces.

See also

External links

  • Gush Katif official website http://www.katif.net/


Last updated: 05-06-2005 01:27:49