Discriminatory Zoning and Planning in the Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip consists of a narrow strip of land by the Mediterranean sea, with an area of 360 km2 and a population of about 1.8 million Palestinians,152 constituting one of the most densely populated areas in the world.153 In 2005, Israel’s “Disengagement Plan” prompted the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli military and colonizers from Gaza.154 However, despite the 2005 disengagement, Israel remains in control, inter alia, of the land adjacent to the Gaza-Israeli border, considered a buffer zone, as well as of the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, through its complete control of Gaza’s airspace, territorial waters and land crossings.155 The Israeli control over Gaza’s territorial waters also includes a naval buffer zone.156 Following the victory of Hamas in the Palestinian general elections, Israel imposed a land, air and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007, intensifying thus the closure applied since the early 1990s.157 Israel prevents any movement of people and goods by air or by sea,158 which leaves the land crossings between Gaza and Israel, and Gaza end Egypt as the only way of Gaza’s interacting with the outside world and developing its economic life. As of September 2014, only the Kerem Shalom Crossing (Karm Abu Salem), which connects the Gaza Strip with Israel, is open five days a week during daytime for movement of authorized goods only. The Rafah Crossing (Al Awda), on the border with Egypt, is partially open on a daily basis between 9:00 and 15:00 for emergency cases, foreign nationals, authorized Palestinians, as well as urgent humanitarian goods. The Erez Crossing (Beit Hanoun) with Israel is 152 OCHA - Occupied Palestinian Territories, Gaza Initial Rapid Assessment, 6. 153 BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians, A Handbook for Vulnerable Individuals and Communities, 7. 154 Ibid.; OCHA, Between the Fence and a Hardplace, 7. 155 In addition, Israel also exerts control over: the population registry, which is common to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank; the tax system, “which forms part of a single customs envelope along with Israel and the West Bank”; and civilian infrastructure, such as the electricity system as well as wired, wireless and internet communications. Bashi and Feldman, Scale of Control, 12–25. 156 BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians, A Handbook for Vulnerable Individuals and Communities, 80. 157 OCHA - Occupied Palestinian Territories, Five Years of Blockade: The Humanitarian Situation in the Gaza Strip, June 2012, 1. 158 Bashi and Feldman, Scale of Control, 12–14. 49