Find out why this small strip of land has been through so many conflicts and political upheavals since the end of World War II. Footage courtesy: CNN International
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00:00 Gaza is only about 25 miles long and 7 miles wide, but this small strip of land is one
00:07 of the most fought over in history.
00:10 It was an Egyptian base, a royal city for the Philistines and the place where the Hebrew
00:15 hero Samson, betrayed by Delilah, met his death.
00:19 Since then, much blood has been spilled.
00:23 The most recent contest for Gaza began at the end of World War II, when persecuted Jews
00:28 travelled to Israel from Europe, looking for a new start after the horrors of the Holocaust.
00:34 In 1947, the United Nations created a plan to split Palestine into two lands, one for
00:40 Jews and one for the Arab people.
00:43 Backed by the US President Harry S. Truman, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founder, proclaimed
00:48 the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
00:52 Egypt then attacked Israel through the Gaza Strip.
00:56 Israel was victorious, but Gaza remained under the control of Egypt and an influx of Palestinian
01:01 refugees began.
01:03 In 1967, war broke out between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
01:09 In what became known as the Six Day War, Israel seized the Gaza Strip and held it for 40 years.
01:16 Israel pulled its forces out of Gaza in 2005.
01:20 In 2006, Hamas, a group sworn to destroy Israel, enlisted by the United States, the European
01:27 Union and others as a terrorist group, won a landslide victory in Palestinian legislative
01:33 elections.
01:34 Hamas was now in control of the territory.
01:37 However, Israel still controls much of the area's access to and from the Gaza Strip.
01:43 Since then, Israel and Hamas have been exchanging blows.
01:47 Israel maintains that Hamas is a violent terror organisation, while Hamas says that they represent
01:53 an oppressed people being victimised by the Jewish state.
01:57 The international community continues to press for a cease in violence, but for now, the
02:02 Strip's population of 1.8 million people are trapped in the crossfire.
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