Are there any topless beaches in the Gaza Strip?

Would someone please simplify the ongoing Gaza Strip situation for me?

• I know that since 1948, there has been a big problem with the Gaza Strip, a small strip of land between Egypt and Israel. Is this because Egypt and Israel both want the Gaza strip? Are natives of the Gaza strip called Palestinians? Is it correct that most of the residents are Muslim? Are Palestinians Muslims? Thank you for any and all informative comments. Why would Egypt or any other country really want to claim the gaza strip, since it seems poverty-stricken and full of conflict ? I can sort of understand why Israel would want to lay claim to it, since the religion of Israeli residents is a minority in the arab world.

• Answer:

  WOW, you asked a ton of questions, but they are all valid. I will try to answer all, but bear with me as the answer may become long. Is this because Egypt and Israel both want the Gaza strip? Neither Israel nor Egypt want Gaza. Actually former Israeli PM Rabin once wished that the sea would swallow Gaza. Annexing Gaza to Israel will result in a major increase in the Arab minority in Israel. Considering the high natural population growth rate of the Palestinians, they will become a majority in Israel in no time. However, Israel also does not want to set Gaza free and consider it a threat. That is why Israel has converted Gaza into a large prison or concentration camp. Are natives of the Gaza strip called Palestinians? Yes Is it correct that most of the residents are Muslim? Yes. About 95%. Are Palestinians Muslims? Worldwide, about 93% Muslim, 7% Christian. How did these Palestinians end up there in the first place? Gaza is part of Palestine. Palestinians have always lived there for thousands of years. They are the descendants of the Canaanites who first inhabited Palestine about 6000 years ago. Why don't they just leave and take up living somewhere else? It’s their country. Why should they leave it? The natural thing is to fight for their freedom, not flee. Are they banned from leaving? They are very restricted in moving in or out. As I mentioned above, the Gaza Strip has been converted into a large jail/concentration camp. While Gazans, like all people in the world, want to be able to move in and out freely. However, that does not mean they are giving up on their country. So, no one likes the Christians or the Muslims who live there? This is not about Christians and Muslims. It is about Zionist colonizers, who came from outside Palestine, and took it over, and displaced the native population. It happened that the native population was Muslim and Christian. However, to the Zionists, I do not think it mattered at all what the religion of the natives was. Do the Christians and Muslims living in Gaza get along or not really? They get along very well indeed. Palestinian Muslims and Christians have excellent historical relations. Two of the Palestinian resistance movements (to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation) were founded by Christians. I am a Muslim Palestinian, and I have many Christian Palestinian friends. There are several cities in Palestine with Christian majorities, one of which is Bethlehem. So you are saying Israel kicked out Christians and Muslims when it became an independent country? Literally Yes. Israel ethnically cleansed 80% of the Palestinian from the area they occupied in 1948 to establish Israel. In the process, more than 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed. Israel built new towns in their places and gave them Hebrew names to erase the evidence of the crime. My father comes from one of these ethnically cleansed villages (Kafr Ana). See link below of a question about Palestinian villages around the Gaza Strip. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Atg5FhExRQHyAKBd4M3JSEPty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20090115112003AAalxdJ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ethnic_Cleansing_of_Palestine_%28Book%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafr_Ana Or are these Christians recent imports, attempting to "convert" the Muslims/Jews? Palestinian Christians are native Palestinian. Remember that Jesus Christ was a Palestinian born in Bethlehem. Palestinians have changed faiths over the ages. The Canaanites were originally pagans. Most converted to Judaism during the 1000 years BC. Most converted to Christianity during the Roman Empire rule, and most converted to Islam after the 7th Century AD. I say most, because many stayed Christian or Jewish. In the 19th Century nearly 8% of the Palestinians were Jewish. However after the establishment of Israel, the Jewish Palestinians got completely mixed with the emigrant Jews. I suggest you read the best answer to this question, which gives you a brief history of the conflict: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Av8aLj1ZI9RefUqqVlZiYNDsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20090124214554AAZ3gRF