January 25, 2006: The Gaza Strip Elects Hamas

January 25, 2006: The Gaza Strip elects Hamas to govern them. They haven't had an election since, because Hamas don't believe in elections.

The Gaza Strip is 25 miles long, from 3.7 to 7.5 miles wide, and has a total area of 141 square miles. As of 2010, it had a population of just over 2 million, mostly of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, and is one of the most densely populated territories in the world, with  a high proportion of youth, with 43.5 percent being children 14 or younger, and 50 percent under age of 18.

The territorial boundaries were established by the Green Line of the 1949 Armistice Agreements after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which gave Egypt control of Gaza. Israel took it over following the 1967 Six-Day War. The 1993 Oslo Accords established the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a limited governing authority, initially led by the secular party Fatah.

But in 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its military forces from Gaza, and dismantled its settlements. The following year, Hamas, a party of Sunni Islamist extremists, dedicated to the elimination of the State of Israel, defeated Fatah in an election.

Through January 25, 2022, there has been no new election. Hamas don't dare, for fear of losing their grip on Gaza.

The slogan is, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." The river is the Jordan River of which "the West Bank" is the west bank. The sea is the Mediterranean Sea. In order to achieve this, the State of Israel would have to disappear.

"Palestine will be free"? No, it won't. Hamas don't believe in freedom. They are profoundly conservative, but have fooled leftists from Washington Square Park in New York to Celtic Park in Glasgow into thinking that, rather than right-wing maniacs starting the war with Israel every time and performing actual genocidal attacks, they are leftist victims.

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January 25, 2006 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between its Conference Championship Games and the Super Bowl. There were 12 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Sacramento Kings, 106-102 in overtime at Madison Square Garden. Mike Bibby scored 35 for the Kings.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Los Angeles Clippers, 90-77 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Boston Celtics, 89-87 at the TD Banknorth Garden (now the TD Garden).

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 106-97 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta. LeBron James scored 38 points.

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 107-87 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 106-102 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. Richard Hamilton scored 35 points for the Pistons. Michael Redd scored 41 in defeat for the Bucks.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, 84-68 at the Ford Center (now the Paycom Center) in Oklahoma City.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 102-78 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Toronto Raptors, 104-88 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Utah Jazz, 113-94 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Golden State Warriors, 102-93 at the Oakland Arena (as the Oakland Coliseum Arena was then known).

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 97-94 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-3 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Florida Panthers, 4-3 in a shootout at the BankAtlantic Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals, 8-1 at the Mellon Arena (as the Civic Arena was then known) in Pittsburgh.

* The Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-3 in a shootout at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 6-3 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).