For Gaza, a Question of Responsibility

But the Israeli government retains control over all of Gaza's border crossings, except for the transit point to Egypt; the strip's airspace and coastal waters; and the population registry used to assign Palestinian identity cards. The United Nations continues to designate Gaza as occupied territory.

By declaring the end of the occupation in Gaza while maintaining it in the West Bank, said Samir Hulileh, a Palestinian economist who has been involved in negotiations with Israel for more than 15 years, Israel is trying to push the regions apart to prevent a future state from emerging. In the past, Israeli officials have talked favorably about Gaza eventually joining Egypt and about the West Bank establishing political links with Jordan, two countries with peace agreements with Israel.

While allowing thousands of Gazans into Israel each year for brief medical visits, the government now bars them from entering the West Bank, which remains a closed Israeli military zone. Israel pledged in the 1993 Oslo accords to treat Gaza and the West Bank as "a single territorial unit" pending the creation of a Palestinian state.

After the Oslo accords, tens of thousands of Palestinians returned to the territories on temporary travel documents from places of exile around the world, with the understanding they would receive Israel's authorization to hold identity cards issued by the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli government allowed the Palestinian Authority to issue the newcomers such cards -- needed to secure travel documents, enroll in universities and obtain medical insurance, among other basic services -- through an annual quota system.

Israel froze the process in the fall of 2000 after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising, leaving 25,000 to 30,000 Gaza families in need of identity cards.

Without them, they cannot arrange Palestinian travel documents needed to leave the strip, even for Israeli-sponsored humanitarian reasons. Israel canceled plans to restart the program after Hamas's election victory; the Israeli government now defends the cessation by citing its argument that the occupation has ended.