Winner of the Middle East Monitor Palestine Book Award

A Guardian Book of the Year

'Masterpiece' SUNDAY TIMES

'Authoritative' INDEPENDENT

‘A magnificent piece of historical writing’ ROGER OWEN

‘Impressive’ NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

‘Superbly researched and well written’ PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

‘Fills a gap in the literature’ HISTORY TODAY

A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF GAZA – FROM THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT

Through its millennium-long existence, Gaza has often been bitterly disputed, yet enduringly neglected. Squeezed between the Negev and Sinai deserts and the Mediterranean Sea, Gaza was contested by everyone from the Pharaohs, Persians, Greeks and Romans to the Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans and British. And, since 1948, it has been at the heart of Palestinian nationalism and history.

The first comprehensive history of Gaza to be published in any language, this new, updated edition covers events since 2011, including Gaza’s renewed tragic centrality to world politics and security since the events of October 2023: history’s worst attack on Israel, provoking history’s worst war against the Palestinians.

1. Gaza before the Strip - Crossroads of Empires, Islamic Era, British Mandate
2. 1947-67: Generation of Mourning - Catastrophe, Refugees and Fedayin, First Occupation, Nasser's Children
3. 1967-87: Generation of Dispossession - Four Year War, Era of Notables, Alien peace, New Wave
4. 1987-2007: Generation of Intifadas - Revolt of Stones, Limited Authority, Days of Fury, One Palestine Against Another
5. Conclusion: Generation of Impasses - Five Years of Ruins