Whether making such a comparison between two historical situations is justified in this context depends on the way we define a concentration camp. Gilad Atzmon wrote:
Gaza is the biggest jail in the history of humanity. It is a concentration camp for 1.5 million Palestinians, many of them 1948 refugees. The Gazans have been living in a blockade for four years. They are subject to air raids, warfare with WMDs, they are starved and face severe shortages of water, petrol, electricity and medical supplies.Ron Paul and others have made similar statements. Obviously it is implied here that the state of Israel imposed the yoke of the Gazans on them. To many, this would seem as self-evident, but I have to disagree.
It is true that the Gaza strip is severely overcrowded. Today the Gaza strip contains about 1.5 million people, on an area of 360 square kilometers, leading to a population density of about 4000 people per square kilometer. This is a case of severe overpopulation, worse than in Bangladesh.
However, this has not always been the case. Gaza is a territory that has been suffering from dramatic population growth over the past decades.
A look at the US census bureau's population database for the Gaza strip reveals the following numbers:
1970 - 0.343 million
1990 - 0.646 million
2010 - 1.604 million
Therefore, by dividing the population in 2010 by the population in 1970, we find that the population increased by 367% in forty years. By comparison, the population of Israel was 2.9 million in 1970 and 7.35 in 2010 and therefore increased by 153%.
It should be noted that circumstances differ for the two places. Israel saw significant immigration during the fall of the Soviet Union, whereas the Gaza strip did not. It would therefore be interesting to see whether the fertility rates for the two areas differ.
We can use the UN World Population Prospects for this. Upon examining the UN World Population Prospects, we find that the fertility rate for the Palestinian territories as a whole was around 8 children per women during 1970:
Comparing this with Israel, we find the following:
Comparing the numbers leads us to discover that fertility rates in Israel around 1970 were about half of those in the Palestinian territories. However, it must be noted that fertility rates in Israel appear to be high as well and have failed to decline since the mid-90's.Palestinian demographic warfare
Can Israel be held responsible for the situation in Gaza? It can't. The overpopulation of the Gaza strip is the fault of the Gazans authorities. Arafat himself said that the womb of the Arab woman is his strongest weapon.
Hamas also refuses to implement any Family planning policy in the Gaza strip, according to IPS News. Therefore the problem will continue to get worse, until the Gazans become unable to feed themselves.
In many other countries, such as Afghanistan, the high birth rate can be blamed on a high child mortality. If you are unsure whether your children will grow up, you are inclined to have a few more.
In Gaza however, this is not the case. The current infant mortality is 17 per 1000. In neighboring Egypt, the infant mortality is 25 per 1000. Furthermore, life expectancy in Gaza is 74 years. This is again higher than Egypt which is at 72.6 years. It should also be noted that despite the blockade of Gaza, the infant mortality rate in the Gaza strip is continuing to fall, as it has fallen from 19 in 2008 to 17.12 in 2011.
It therefore seems that the "Concentration camp" argument can not be based on the life expectancy of people in the Gaza strip. If this were the case, we would have to consider Egypt a concentration camp as well.
Are children in Gaza underweight? This is certainly the case for some. However, the percentage of children under five that are underweight declined between 2000 and 2010, to 3.5% of the population. This is again slightly lower than the percentage in Egypt, where 6.8% of children under the age of five are underweight. This is despite 40% of the population of Gaza being unemployed, whereas only 9% of the population in neighboring Egypt is unemployed.
Why Gaza does so well
Although it is never discussed, it is clear that the plight of the Egyptians is worse than the plight of the Gazans. Why is this? There are multiple reasons for this. The fact that Gaza receives so much international attention means that more effort is taken to help the people in Gaza.
Despite the blockade, international aid continues to enter Gaza, six days per week. The blockade means that Israel is capable of controlling what enters Gaza, and what doesn't. As an example, fertilizer that can be used to produce explosives is not allowed to enter the country, whereas fertilizer that can't be used for explosives is. The blockade is working, as rocket attacks on Israel are now extremely rare.
People who become ill in Gaza are allowed entry into Israel to receive medical treatment. In 2009 alone, 10.544 people entered Israel to receive medical treatment. This helps explain why the Gaza strip has a higher life expectancy than Egypt. Israel also supplies Gaza with 70% of its electricity needs.
Conclusion
It seems that the main reason the Gaza strip is considered a concentration camp is the fact that it is both overpopulated and poor. The blame for both can be found solely with the Gazan authorities that wage a policy of demographic and military warfare.
Therefore, to answer the question posed in the title of this article: If we want to consider the Gaza strip to be a concentration camp, to be fair we would have to follow by stating that it is a concentration camp that was built by its own inhabitants.
The existence of the State of Israel could have been a blessing to the Islamic population of the region. Israel produces more scientific research every year as every Arab nation put together. As we have seen, despite the ongoing blockade, the Gazans live longer and are wealthier than the Egyptians.
Unfortunately, the surrounding Muslim population instead decided that Israel has to be destroyed. It should be noted that the problem is indeed Islam, and not an ethnic conflict. The Druze population of Israel participates in Israeli society, and few if any problems emerge.
The reason for this ongoing conflict can be found in the Hadith, the recorded statements of the Prophet Muhammed, as the Hadith teaches Muslims to prepare for the annihilation of the Jewish people. According to one survey, seventy three percent of Palestinians agree with the following Hadith:
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.Although I am in theory supportive of the one state solution and the right of return, in reality, both of these policies would be disastrous for reasons such as the one above. The goal of Zionism was the creation of a homeland for the Jewish people, and the Jewish people can not be safe in a nation where the majority of the population consists of people who follow a religion that preaches genocide of the Jewish people.
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