What Should We Do with the Gaza Strip? Proposals and Plans, 1949–1957

Political and military conflicts occasionally result in the formation of geopolitical entities that exist in the interstices of political territorialities. The Gaza Strip that was formed during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War is one case study of such a geopolitical entity. The Gaza Strip came under Egyptian military rule and tens of thousands of displaced Palestinian Arabs became refugees living in camps established in its bounds, tripling the original population. Following the end of the war, the Gaza Strip’s borders were closed, its economy was almost completely paralyzed, and most of its residents lived in poverty and distress. Economic and social deprivation along with undecided geopolitical status created a territorial hotspot whose instability threatened to deteriorate into the renewal of war. From early 1949 and until the Israeli withdrawal in March 1957 that followed its occupation during the 1956 war, Egyptian and Israeli governments and the international political system sought to “normalize” the Gaza Strip and extricate it from the interstices of political territorialities. This article expands on the economic and military plans and political negotiations conducted toward this “normalization” aim during a period of about eight years.