| |
REVISED
AND UPDATED PAPERBACK EDITION RELEASED JULY 2010
Few areas on earth have more history, ancient
and present, per inch of its territory than the Gaza Strip. In antiquity
Gaza was a horn of plenty, the hub of fabulous networks of desert
and maritime trade. Egyptian, Persian and Assyrian emperors fought
over it, and so did Alexander the Great, Richard the Lionheart,
Saladdin and Napoleon.
… More recently Gaza’s fame
has been of quite a different kind – a place of crisis, anguish
and misery. Since 170,000 Palestinian refugees arrived there in
1948, and the Strip became one more piece in the intractable Middle
Eastern puzzle, it has gone through a succession of bloody upheavals:
passing from Egyptian to Israeli to PLO to Hamas’ rule, all
the while remaining a volatile geopolitical flashpoint. Apart from
separating between Israel and the refugees in the southwestern corner
of Palestine, the Strip’s borders coincide with other momentous
fault-lines: between Islamism and secularism, tradition and modernity,
East and West – and between the comfortable first and the
wretched third world.
… Nathan Shachar is a veteran correspondent
who has covered Gazan affairs for more than three decades. He has
personally witnessed much of the turmoil which has made the Gaza
Strip a permanent item of news bulletins for sixty years. This book
relates the Gaza Strip’s rich and tumultuous history in a
highly readable text, which includes time-lines for all major events
and personalities (from the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III to Hamas’
leader Ismai’l Haniye). It brings perspective to the recent
Israeli invasion of the Strip and its political and social aftermath.
 |
 |
|
|
The Cover Illustrations in Political Context
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Map of the Gaza Strip
Introduction: Trauma and Violence
1 The Setting: Geography, Climate, Wildlife
and Ecology
2 Egyptians, Hebrew and Philistines
3 Persians, Greeks and Romans
4 Freedom of Religion and the Rise of Christianity
5 Arabs and Crusaders, 634–1193
6 Tartars, Mongols and Mamluks
7 Ottoman Conquest and Rule, 1517–1918
8 The British Conquest and Mandate, 1917–1948
9 The Nakba and the First Arab–Israeli
War: The All-Palestine Government of Gaza, 1947–1950
10 Egyptian Military Rule, 1948–1967
11 Israeli Conquest and Occupation, 1967–1971
12 Ariel Sharon’s “Dirty War”:
The Beginning of Jewish Settlement, 1971–1972
13 The Quiet Years, 1972–1986
14 The Outbreak of the First Palestinian
Uprising, December 1987
15 Economic Warfare and the Rise of Islamism,
1987–1991
16 Hardship, Delusion and Desperation: The
First Gulf War, 1990–1991
17 Failure at Madrid and Success at Oslo,
1991–1993
18 High Hopes and New Dangers, 1994–1995
19 Exit Rabin, Enter Likud, 1995–1999
20 Barak’s Gamble and the Second Palestinian
Uprising, 1999–2001
21 The Return of Sharon: The Destruction
of 1
22 The Death of Yasser Arafat: The Evacuation
of the Strip, 2003–2005
23 Sharon’s Departure: The Hamas Election
Triumph, 2005–2006
24 Civil War and the Hamas Takeover, 2007
25 Operation “Cast Lead”, 2008–2009
Epilogue: An Ideological War of Nerves and Prestige
Gaza History Timeline
Bibliography
Index
|
|
“In The History of the Gaza Strip
great and terrible histories are crushed into one small strip
of land. With an unflinching critical eye, in which the follies
of neither side are excused, this shrewd and seasoned reporter
unravels the story of Gaza in its true role – as the
crucible of the Israeli–Palestinian tragedy.”
Alexander Linklater, Prospect Magazine
“Once I started reading The
History of the Gaza Strip, I could not stop. It is a fascinating
book, which takes no sides but makes good use of all kinds of sources:
from personal experiences to official data to street gossip. Some
of the protagonists occasionally behave decently, but mostly, they
behave appallingly. Few stand for liberty or democracy. But the
book makes me understand the reasoning of both sides, hostages as
they are to ideologies and beliefs. I recommend it strongly to any
reader who feels the need for an analysis of the Gazan tangle and
of the spiral of senseless violence that defines the lot of men
in this region. Gaza is shown here as a part of Palestine and the
Middle East, in all its dependency on big power politics and on
the good or ill will of its powerful neighbours, the Israelis and
the Egyptians.” Jan Szeminsky, Professor of History, The Hebrew
University, Jerusalem
“Nathan Shachar conveys his
encyclopaedic knowledge of the Gaza Strip by means of a moving and
entertaining narrative which escorts the reader through the turbulent
annals of the Middle East’s most cursed flashpoint. The
History of the Gaza Strip puts Shachar right up there with
masters like Orlando Figes, author of A People`s Tragedy, The
Russian Revolution 1891–1924 – and sets him apart
from those historians who pile on dates and names without ever stirring
the soul of the reader.” Ramy Wurgaft, El Mundo,
Madrid (Middle East Correspondent 1991–2002)
“This is a balanced account of the history and politics of
the Gaza Strip, which is now considered to be little more than a
besieged prison camp by Palestinians living under Israeli occupation,
but has long been a ‘highway of armies.” The focus is
largely on the politics of the Israeli–Palestinian dispute,
with the main sources for post-1975 events being the author’s
own reportorial notes, memories, and contacts dating from when he
was a correspondent in the area, but the narrative also covers events
from the times of ancient Egypt through the British mandate. The
narrative is current through to ‘Operation Cast Lead,’
the 2008–9 Israeli military assault on Gaza, which the author
correctly sees as having deliberately blurred the distinction between
civilians and combatants and utilized an ‘overkill volume
of fire.’” Reference & Research Book News
“This brief historical account of
the Gaza Strip will provide more than enough background for
readers, especially those not particularly familiar with Middle
East Politics, to understand the current conflict. The author,
a Buenos Aires-based journalist for a Swedish newspaper, begins
his narrative with the period of the Egyptians, ancient Hebrews,
and Philistines, progressing through the Greeks, Persians
and Romans. The early Christians, the Arabs and the Crusaders
are followed by succeeding invasions by the Tartars, Mongols,
and the Mamluks. Modern history of the area is dated from
the period of the Ottoman Turks, who were removed by the British
after World War I. All this leads up to the contemporary period
and the establishment of Israel and its continued difficulties
with the Palestinians and the Egyptians, both of whom will
share leadership of the Strip. Several chapters deal with
Israeli–Palestinian relations, primarily the Palestinian
attacks on Israeli citizens. This is an exemplary source on
the Gaza Strip that can be read in a single sitting to get
up to speed in understanding its current control by Hamas
and its terrorist implications.” Choice
“The Egyptian period saw the creation of what would
become a recurring story in the Strip – the interdiction of
its people’s ability to travel outside the area. While the
UN peacekeepers relaxed in villas (barefoot Palestinian caddies
carried their clubs for golf games near the old British airfield)
and Egyptians made the long trip to visit the brothels of
Gaza, the Gazans themselves had their travelling abilities
curtailed (pp. 67–69).
… Shachar sheds light on many important details in his
study. For instance, few know that the Egyptian army’s Palestinian
units performed well during the 1967 war. He also sheds light
on Israel’s attempts to improve life in the Strip after 1967,
such as fighting polio and TB. His economic history of the
Strip between 1967 and 1987, with discussions on the 40,000
or so Gazan workers who went to Israel daily to find work
is excellent. His examination of the class dynamics dividing
the “Muwatinin” (local aristocracy) from the refuges and the
Bedouin is fascinating. Another positive aspect of Shachar’s
tale is that while he clearly sympathizes with the Gazans:
“[their] persistence, indignation and a refusal to submit
to an unjust fate” (p. i); he is also eminently fair to the
Israelis. Other writing on Gaza has tended to usually reflect
a very one-sided picture of the conflict and fails to present
a full picture of what is happening. This account does not
suffer from this problem. This may partly be a result of the
author’s own stated bias on the side of one Palestinian woman
named Samira, whom he witnessed suffer through the imposition
of Hamas-style Islamic law, and it may also stem from his
own memories of a time when the Strip was more open-minded
and liberal. However, today the author today sees only misery,
one he hopes that Gazans will one day recall as their low
point.” Digest of Middle East Studies
“In this self-consciously slim volume, Shachar
reveals a compressed journey along the entire known time-axis
of the Gaza Strip, providing ‘signposts to a history
that is disproportionate in its scale to the diminutive scope
of its borders.’ Shachar takes into account Gaza’s special
place between Egypt and the Fertile Crescent and contextualizes
it with respect to its history and its culture, which draws
from the Bedouin of the Negev and Sinai, the coastal fishermen
who crowd its banks, and the myriad of religions which have
shaped it and its surroundings. He describes the continual
rewriting of the rules of control in Gazan society and the
eruptions and calamities Gaza has faced for years with an
optimism that describes his decades-old relationship with
the territory.” Middle East Journal
|
Publication Details
| |
Hardback ISBN: |
|
978-1-84519-344-7 |
| |
Paperback ISBN: |
|
978-1-84519-345-4 |
| |
Page Extent / Format: |
|
224 pp. / 229 x 152 mm |
| |
Release Date: |
|
January 2010 |
| |
Illustrated: |
|
Highly illustrated |
| |
Hardback Price: |
|
£42.50 / $59.50 |
| |
Paperback Price: |
|
£19.95 / $34.95; revised
and corrected edition released July 2010 |
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
| This book can be ordered online or by telephone. |
|
| |
For the UK and Rest of the World:
Gazelle Book Services
tel. 44 (0)1524-68765 |
|
 |
For the United States:
International Specialized Book Services
tel. (1) 503 287-3093 or (800) 944-6190 |
 |
For Canada:
University of Toronto Distribution
tel. (1) 800-565-9523 |
|
 |
|
