Does anyone know the short version to the situation between Israel and Gaza?

yea same here... i'm trying to figure out whats going on...

""I don't really understand it and I don't have the time to go through Wiki""

And what makes you think others have the 'time' to do your homework for you or even want to?

oh give her a break. you obviously had time to type that snippy remark up. here is some of what I've read.. it's from a news article.

Back in June, 2008, Egypt helped broker a 6-month cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the ruling body in the Gaza Strip. Though the cease-fire was broken several times by both sides, it largely held. Toward the end of the cease-fire in December, Israel, while closing Gaza's borders since November, indicated that it might extend the agreement, if Hamas ceased all Qassam rocket attacks. Qassam rockets are the crude but deadly homemade missiles often launched towards Israeli territory (over 3,000 times in 2008 alone).

Hamas leaders, angered by the blockade and seemingly little political headway made over the past 6 months, recently stepped up rocket attacks on Israel once again. Israel has now responded with five days (so far) of air attacks and Naval bombardment on Gaza, resulting in over 350 dead, nearly 1,500 wounded and countless buildings and smugglers' tunnnels destroyed. Hamas has threatened to increase the rocket attacks send suicide bombers into Israel in retaliation, and Israel is massing troops and tanks around Gaza for a possible ground assault.

that's a gist of it... if you want more details on day to day, you'll have to check out the yahoo news coverage on it.

In 1967, most of the Arab nations attacked Israel, thinking it was a soft target and they could quickly wipe it out. Six days later, the "6-day War" was over and Israel had gained the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
Most of the mess in the Middle East results from this period.
One of the big things each American President has tried to do since then is to end the fighting and bring peace to the area.
Everyone is sick of the fighting and constant threat of death. A year or so ago (I don't remember when), the government of Israel decided to trust the Palestinian leaders when they said they wanted peace. Israel gave up the Gaza Strip.
Fighting quickly broke out. Who was first? Do we care? Not really. But Israel got tired of rockets being launched from the Gaza Strip and decided to put a stop to it - forcefully.
And that's where we are today.

Gen. Allenby Enters Jerusalem, 1917

Divisive History

History's legacy created divisive issues between Palestinians and Israelis. Judea, home of the Jews in ancient times, was conquered by the Romans and renamed Palestine. Palestine was later conquered and inhabited by Arabs for over a thousand years. The Zionist movement arose to restore the Jews to Israel, largely ignoring the existing Arab population. Following the Balfour Declaration in 1917, Palestine was granted to Britain as a League of Nations mandate to build a national home for the Jewish people. The Arabs resented the Jews coming in to take their land. Led by Grand Mufti Hajj Amin El Husseini, they rioted repeatedly and later revolted, creating a history of enmity between Jews and Arabs in Palestine. Britain stopped Jewish immigration to Palestine.

Following the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis, pressure on Britain increased to allow Jewish immigration to Palestine. In 1947, the UN partitioned the land into Arab and Jewish states. The Arabs did not accept the partition and war broke out. The Jews won a decisive victory, expanded their state and created several hundred thousand Palestinian refugees. The Arab states refused to recognize Israel or make peace with it. Wars broke out in 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982, and there were many terror raids and Israeli reprisals. Each side believes different versions of the same history. Each side views the conflict as wholly the fault of the other and expects an apology. More about Israel and Palestine History Zionism

Occupation, Land & Settlements

Israel has occupied the West bank and Gaza Strip (about 2,200 square miles) since the 1967 6-day war, and has built settlements with a population of about 220,000, mostly in the West Bank. Palestinians demand withdrawal from all of the land conquered in the 1967 and evacuation of the settlements. Israel continued to expand settlements throughout the peace process that began in 1993 and continues to do so today. In the final status negotiations at Camp David and Taba, Israel offered to turn over 97% of the land in the West Bank and all of Gaza, as well as Arab sections of Jerusalem. This offer was turned down by the Palestinians.