James' World 2

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What is the Gaza Strip? 

The Gaza Strip refers to a narrow strip of land wedged between Israel and Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea that is roughly the size of Washington, D.C. Occupied in turn by the Ottoman Empire and then the British Empire, it forms the smaller of the two Palestinian territories — the other being the West Bank. 

After the creation of Israel in 1948, Egypt controlled Gaza for nearly two decades. After Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War against its Arab neighbors, it gained control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. For the next 38 years, it controlled the strip and enabled the construction of 21 Jewish settlements.

In 2005, under international and domestic pressure, Israel withdrew around 9,000 Israeli settlers and its military forces from Gaza, leaving the enclave to be governed by the Palestinian Authority, which also controlled parts of the occupied West Bank.

Today, with over 2 million Palestinians living within roughly 140 square miles, it is “one of the world’s most densely populated territories,” according to Gisha, an Israeli nongovernmental organization. Half of Palestinians living in Gaza are under age 19, but they have few to no prospects for socioeconomic growth and limited access to the outside world.

Who governs and who controls it?

Hamas, which has clashed repeatedly with the Palestinian leaders in the West Bank who negotiated the Oslo Peace Accords, is a militant Palestinian nationalist movement currently led by Ismail Haniyeh. It took control of Gaza after it won elections there in 2006. Since then, no elections have been held.

Despite pleas from the United Nations and human rights groups, Israel has maintained a land, air and sea blockade on Gaza since 2007 that has had a devastating effect on Palestinian civilians. Israel says the blockade, which gives it control of Gaza’s borders and is also enforced by Egypt, is necessary to protect Israeli citizens from Hamas.

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A man takes an early morning walk with a cup of coffee along a street in Gaza City on Oct. 3. Mohammed Abed / AFP-Getty Images file

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Acing a job interview is all about making a good first impression, and one big way to miss the mark is to answer an age-old question with a cliche.

Responding to the question “what are your weaknesses?” by painting yourself as a perfectionist or a workaholic will likely prompt an eye-roll from Tom Gimbel, CEO of the staffing agency LaSalle Network.

“Oh, yeah, that’s a real weakness all right,” says Gimbel, who says he’s extended offers to “hundreds and hundreds” of people during his 25 years in the hiring business. “You want to be perfect and you work all the time. It’s a trick answer.”

Rather, when Gimbel poses that question to candidates, he’s looking for two things: that you’re self-aware, and that you have solutions for your shortcomings.

“The real question that employers have is not what your weaknesses are, it’s what your solution to compensate for that is,” he says.

Here’s how to prepare a solid answer: Think about a technical or a soft skills you’d like to improve and how you’re actually taking action on it.

For example, you might discuss that you’re not as quick on a certain software related to your work, and you’ve realized you want to take some classes on it. Or, you might point out that you’re not a great writer, so you’re working with a writing coach or having a mentor proofread your emails.

“That’s a weakness solution,” Gimbel says. “We all have weaknesses, and we need to admit what we’re not good at.”

Overall, Gimbel’s No. 1 underrated tip for excelling at a job interview comes down to a little humility: “Be honest about what you stink at.”

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Draw clear boundaries

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Some content on this page was disabled on April 15, 2025 as a result of a DMCA takedown notice from Guardian Media Group. You can learn more about the DMCA here:

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The Israeli military responded with air strikes on Gaza and launched a ground offensive. More than 21,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

During a temporary truce at the end of November, Hamas released 105 hostages and Israel freed 240 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

What is the goal of Israel’s military operation in Gaza?

Since the 7 October attacks, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warplanes have carried out air strikes across Gaza while its troops have moved through the territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had a “clear goal of destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities”, as well as freeing the hostages.

Israel, the UK, US and other Western powers class Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Mr Netanyahu also declared that Israel would have “overall security responsibility” for Gaza “for an indefinite period” after the conflict. However, he later said Israel had no plans to reoccupy the territory.

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They say the only constant is change, but in the business world, there is another one: Meetings suck. They devour your time, zap your energy, and drain your motivation for any task more demanding than a nap. Yet, managers and organizations insist on swarming people’s calendars with these schedule-cramming hours of busywork.

However, this second constant may not be as irrevocable as it seems. Research shows that meetings can be tremendously beneficial for everyone involved. The problem is that few managers have been trained to lead them effectively.

To help, Big Think recently spoke* with Steven Rogelberg, a professor of organizational science, management, and psychology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and the author of Glad We Met and The Surprising Science of Meetings. During our conversation, we discuss who meetings are for, why they go wrong so often, and strategies to facilitate them more successfully.

Big Think: How did the office meeting evolve, and what are its benefits?

Rogelberg: Humans gather. It’s what we do. We’ve gathered since cave-person times, but ultimately, it was during the Industrial Revolution that we started to move away from traditional command-and-control systems and started to recognize that elevating other voices allowed for more ideas to emerge. It was an appreciation that diverse voices can bring diverse ideas and solutions to complex problems.

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A supporter of former President Donald J. Trump watching him speak at a campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in October. No state in the nation swung as heavily Republican between 2012 and 2020 as Iowa. Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Many nutrition studies rely on people to accurately remember what they consumed up to a year ago, Dr. Lampe said. And it’s tricky to understand how single foods may influence your health when they’re part of a larger diet, she said, adding that your lifestyle, environment, hormones, and genes can also play a role.

No single food can prevent cancer on its own, said Nigel Brockton, the vice president of research at the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. But following a healthy diet does seem to reduce the risk, he said.

Here are some foods that experts say are worth adding to your plate.

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Credit…Sarah Mafféïs

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They turned up in shifts, all through the course of lockdown: mice, ants, weevils, moths, a fox, and, on one unhappy occasion, a magpie in the kitchen. I have been obliged to show the door to all manner of wildlife, with varying degrees of success. The magpie was eager to leave. The ants less so. The moths are still with us.

It’s easy to get angry with household pests, and sometimes – on encountering a particularly rapacious mouse, say – it’s possible to wish them great harm. But most people, I suspect, would rather be as humane as possible when getting rid of invaders. And even when kindness can’t stop you killing things, squeamishness often will. Unfortunately, many pest control products still associate effectiveness with lethality. The ant trap I bought says it “destroys ants and their nests!” I really just wanted them off the worktop. Is it possible to keep your home pest-free using only humane, nonlethal means?

The first thing I had to learn about humane pest control is that the people who promote it don’t like the word pest. Rodents and insects are all wildlife, with a vital part to play in our ecosystem. “Commonly, people call them pests, but they have the same right to live on this planet as we do,” says Laura-Lisa Hellwig, campaigns manager at the vegan charity Viva!. “And some of them have been here for a much longer time than we have. Really, we should find a peaceful way to live together instead of eradicating or cruelly killing some of them.”

Step one, then, is to check if you can simply coexist with your would-be pest.

“When people see, you know, a bee nest in their guttering on the side of their house, the first thing they think is: ‘We need to find a way to control that,’” says Kevin Newell, the founder of Humane Wildlife Solutions, a pioneering nonlethal wildlife control company based in Scotland. He is speaking to me by phone over the peeping of recently rescued baby lesser black-backed gulls, which are temporarily living in his office before being rehomed at a wildlife refuge.

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Tim Dowling … ‘It’s easy to get angry with household pests.’ Photo by Philippe TURPIN/Getty Images

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Hope you love this song, it is appropriate for our times!

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Kodi Lee

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