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Interviews: Dennis Ross Explains The Geography of Gaza
All Things Considered:August 16, 2005
Understanding the Geography of Gaza
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
To better understand what's happening in Gaza, it's useful to examine the area's geography. As the name implies, the Gaza Strip is a rectangular area that borders the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Israel. At 140 square miles, it's approximately twice the size of Washington, DC. Dennis Ross is a counselor and distinguished fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He was special Middle East coordinator during the Clinton administration. Ross says in addition to geography, the demographics of Gaza are important.
Former Ambassador DENNIS ROSS (The Washington Institute for Near East Policy): It's five miles wide, and it's 25 miles long. You're talking about an area that has a population of about 1.4 million Palestinians. The Palestinians are basically in a space that is probably two-thirds the size of Gaza because since the Israelis have been there, about one-third of it is off limits.
NORRIS: Now in that area to the north, right along the border near the Erez checkpoint...
Mr. ROSS: Right.
NORRIS: ...there are a small number of settlements there.
Mr. ROSS: There are a small number of settlements. If you look at how the settlements go, the ones that are most in the north tend to be made up of people who went there less for deep ideological reasons and more for what I would describe as quality-of-life reasons. You start going south, you get into bigger settlements, and the settlements that are there are governed by people who are more ideological in terms of being there. The people in the north, you may have seen--most of them have already left. It's in the places that are to the south where you find greater difficulty.
NORRIS: Well, let's head south into Gaza City. If I were to travel through the city, describe for me what I would see.
Mr. ROSS: Basically what you see is a very concentrated, dense city; very narrow roads, with the exception of a few places; not many traffic lights, with the exception of a few places. When you get into one of the narrow roads because you're trying to see somebody in Gaza City, you can easily get stuck there because, A, you get behind several carts with donkeys. Anyone who's getting out to do business in that area or to buy something in that area, usually they just double-park. So you are likely to have a long time in your car going through a place like this.
NORRIS: Now when we leave Gaza City--I want to head to the south now...
Mr. ROSS: Yeah.
NORRIS: ...and that sort of long stretch before you get to Gush Katif.
Mr. ROSS: Right. Well, some of these places here are relatively open. Here's where you see the farming. I mean, there is farming. The Israelis...
NORRIS: Which is surprising because this is a completely arid area.
Mr. ROSS: It is, but there's--the Israelis use greenhouses, the Palestinians use greenhouses. They have developed--in the Israeli greenhouses, there's a very advanced drip irrigation system that makes maximum use of water that's available. But the Palestinians also have irrigation. It may not be quite as advanced because they haven't had the kind of outside support. But where they've had the outside support, they actually do have the same technology in the farming.
NORRIS: Now if we head further south, let's go into the area Gush Katif. Describe for me the settlements that are all along the Mediterranean there.
Mr. ROSS: Well, you know, they're in a very desirable area. They're along a beachfront. The homes are individual-style, family dwellings. They're very well-appointed. You are talking about what look like almost any suburban area that you could travel to in this country. The difference is they also have a beachfront. So we'd see a very modern community, very well-developed. It's a very compacted, self-contained life there.
NORRIS: And so if you move sort of to the east, describe the contrast between what we'd see in the settlements and what you see in sort of the teeming city there.
Mr. ROSS: Well, you're--it's the contrast between what I would call the First World and the Third or Fourth World, a society that reflects what I would say is a reality of a very modern life vs. what is a much more dilapidated setting: teeming buildings, five-story apartments.
NORRIS: One last quick question: How important is the geography to understanding the history and, also, the future of this region?
Mr. ROSS: Gaza standing alone can't be viable. It has to have some connection to the West Bank because that's also its market. It also, I think, just given the population in Gaza and the birth rate in Gaza, is highest in the world. The lack of indigenous resources doesn't permit you to create an ongoing economy without significant outside help or without the capacity also to be able to export some of your labor. Gaza, given its size, could be a place where you could do some high tech, and the educational level of Palestinians is relatively high. So it's not as if there aren't ways to make it more viable. But given its being physically separated from the West Bank and the only way you get there is through Israel--so I do think you also have to be able to do more than only invest in Gaza. You also have to be able to export some of the labor.
NORRIS: Ambassador Ross, thanks for coming in to talk to us.
Mr. ROSS: It's a pleasure.
NORRIS: Dennis Ross is with The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He's also author of "The Missing Piece: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace." You can find a detailed map of Gaza at our Web site, npr.org.
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