Gaza v. The Gaza

[toasty]

Shiva/Dave/anyone else that knows, can you clarify what the correct name for this region? I've always thought it was just Gaza, and when Bush referred to it as "the Gaza" during his final press conference (!!!!) yesterday, I thought that was an error along the same lines as "the Google." This morning, though, I heard Chris Matthews refer to it as "the Gaza" as well, and now I'm starting to wonder.

[Shiva]

Re: Gaza v. The Gaza

^ I guess "The Gaza" refers to "the Gaza strip", all the territory.
Whereas "Gaza" refers to Gaza City, the city itself...

Dave should know better...

[davetlv]

Re: Gaza v. The Gaza

Shiva pretty much nailed it.

The land mass is called The Gaza Strip - or you might see it sometimes written as Aza - which is the hebrew name.

Whilst the city is Gaza City.

Personally I've never heard it being called The Gaza.

[toasty]

Re: Gaza v. The Gaza

Here's how it was used, BTW:

THE PRESIDENT: I hope so. I'm for a sustainable cease-fire. And a definition of a sustainable cease-fire is that Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel. And there will not be a sustainable cease-fire if they continue firing rockets. I happen to believe the choice is Hamas's to make. And we believe that the best way to ensure that there is a sustainable cease-fire is to work with Egypt to stop the smuggling of arms into the Gaza that enables Hamas to continue to fire rockets. And so countries that supply weapons to Hamas have got to stop. And the international community needs to continue to pressure them to stop providing weapons.

Hamas, obviously, if they're interested in a sustainable cease-fire, needs to stop arming. And then, of course, countries contingent to the Gaza need to work to stop the smuggling. And it's a difficult -- difficult task. I mean, there's tunnels and, you know, great opportunities for people who want to continue to try to disrupt democracy to provide the weapons to do so.