Throughout history, the city of Gaza and its surroundings have played a major role in the wars of empires, at times as the southern entry gate into Palestine/Israel, and at others as a buffer zone between the latter and Egypt.
Gaza, the north-western boundary of the Sinai desert, and its northern region, have water sources that are more easily accessible, and its road network – better than desert tracks – connect it to the rest of the country’s cities.
Research of the Gaza Strip spanning all historical periods shows time and again that the area is the northern key to the stable rule of Palestine/Israel.
Whenever the central rule of the country did not control the Strip, the influence of Egypt of another of the superpowers at the time grew. On the other hand, control of the Gaza Strip has always been a significant factor in any political negotiations with outside forces in general, and with Egypt in particular. It was also, always, strategically crucial in times of war.
Gaza is one of the most important junctions in human history – a meeting point of directions, worlds and landscapes. It is the seam-line zone between inhabited terrain and desert, the encounter of planters and sowers with shepherds and nomads – a mosaic of beliefs and cultures.