... is that Israel continues to control Gaza. As many have pointed out, when the Israelis "withdrew" from Gaza it went from being the most densely populated occupied territory in the world to being the most densely populated prison in the world.

The Israelis still completely control the entirety of Gaza's border with the outside world. They even control Gaza's access to the sea. No one gets in, or out, of Gaza unless the Israelis permit it. And they send troops or missiles into Gaza whenever it suits them.

The withdrawal was an illusion for the benefit of the Western media, and a totally painless tradeoff to keeping huge swaths of the West Bank, which, unlike Gaza, is heavily occupied by Jewish "settlers." (Read: colonizers.)

Israel does not control the Egypt-Gaza border. That power was turned over to Egypt in 2005. You are right minus 6 important miles. As we've seen the last week, Egyptian forces are dealing with and corralling Gazans back behind the border.

Larry2:

... is that Israel continues to control Gaza. As many have pointed out, when the Israelis "withdrew" from Gaza it went from being the most densely populated occupied territory in the world to being the most densely populated prison in the world.

The Israelis still completely control the entirety of Gaza's border with the outside world. They even control Gaza's access to the sea. No one gets in, or out, of Gaza unless the Israelis permit it. And they send troops or missiles into Gaza whenever it suits them.

The withdrawal was an illusion for the benefit of the Western media, and a totally painless tradeoff to keeping huge swaths of the West Bank, which, unlike Gaza, is heavily occupied by Jewish "settlers." (Read: colonizers.)

then how do the "prisoners" manage to launch rockets?

You might add, that the rocket attacks increased after an Israel raid mistakenly killed (by their own admission) the son of a prominent Hamas leader.

And, that Hamas threw out Fatah because Bush was building up Fatah forces in hopes that Fatah would overthrow Hamas.