Gaza has become synonymous with conflict and dispute. Jean-Pierre Filiu's fantastic new book recounts how this has been the case not only with regards to the Israel-Palestine conflict, but also many years before contemporary Modern East politics. Beginning with the Hyksos in 18th century BC, Filiu takes readers through modern times and the ongoing disputes of the region, ending with what may be in store for the future.
The author documents how Gaza has been contested by the Pharaohs, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Fatimids, Mamluks, Crusaders, and Ottomans. Up untill 1948, when 200,000 people sought refuge in Gaza - a marginal area neither Israel nor Egypt wanted, yet the ignored Palestinian statehood claimed.
Jean-Pierre Filiu's Gaza is the first complete and quite possibly a definitive history of the territory in any language. And shows though small in size, the regions history has been monumental.
Winner of the Academic Award at the 2015 Palestine Book Awards.