Gaza A History

Jean-Pierre Filiu

Hurst, 424 pages, £25.00

Through its long existence, Gaza has often been both bitterly disputed and, simultaneously and paradoxically, neglected. Squeezed between the Negev and Sinai deserts on the one hand and the Mediterranean Sea on the other, control of the area has been contested from the time of the Pharaohs. More recently, it has been at the heart of Palestinian history and nationalism since 1948, when 200,000 Palestinians sought refuge there. The endurance of Gaza and the Palestinians make the publication of this history—the first comprehensive one of the territory in any language—both timely and significant.