Demographic pressures lie behind much of what is happening in Gaza. In 1948, 250,000 Palestinian refugees fled to Gaza, where the existing population was 80,000. Today, the population of Gaza is about 1.9 million of whom 1.3 million (68%) are refugees. Palestinians are the only people to retain refugee status generation after generation as a result of United Nations support.
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[1] Alastair Jamieson, “Hamas says most of protesters killed by Israel in Gaza were members ,” NBCNews, May 17, 2018.
[2] Judah Ari Gross, “Israel to reopen Gaza crossing after rioters burn it for 3rd time ,” Times of Israel, May 15, 2018.
[3] Asa Winstanley, “The Palestinians have started their Great March of Return ,” Middle East Monitor (Opinion), March 31, 2018.
[4] Amos Harel, “Hamas in Message to Israel: Willing to Negotiate Long-term Truce ,” Ha’aretz, May 7, 2018.
[5] Shlomi Eldar, “What’s behind Hamas’ offer of cease-fire to Israel? ” Al-Monitor, May 8, 2018.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Lionel Beehner, “The Effects of ‘Youth Bulge’ on Civil Conflicts ,” Council of Foreign Relations, April 13, 2007.
[8] Economic Monitoring Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee March 19, 2018, The World Bank www.worldbank .org.
[9] Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, “Levels of Living in Palestine, 2017 ” Report, No author, no date.
[10] Nidal al-Mughrabi and Tom Finn, “Hamas softens stance on Israel, drops Muslim Brotherhood link ,” Reuters, May 1, 2017.
