The Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World-Historical Perspective
From a foremost expert on the Middle East, a searing indictment of the forces that led to the genocidal war on Gaza and its reverberations across the globe.
The destruction rained on Gaza has been seen by many as a vengeful overreaction to the reckless Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023. However, the new catastrophe befalling the Palestinian people is the continuation of a decades-long course in which Israeli politics, policies and military strategies have inexorably shifted to the right. Gaza was the final nail in the coffin of the Atlanticist “international liberal order” before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The Gaza Catastrophe reckons with the lethal consequences and the significance of a war waged by an advanced military-industrial state – with full US participation and support from the West. Renowned political scientist Gilbert Achcar explores the dynamics of a complex historical process that culminated in the war on Gaza and wider conflict in the Middle East. He offers critical insights on the genocide’s regional and international ramifications, as well as radical critiques of Zionism, Hamas and other state and non-state actors.
This vital volume is essential to understanding the root causes of the violence destabilising the entire region and the wider world, as well as the conditions required to bring it to an end.
Reviews
‘Broad yet focused, Achcar’s collection of insightful essays points at the historical and political tracks that have enabled Israel's ongoing genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. Showing the linkage between the West’s support of Israel’s atrocious onslaught and the banalisation of the global Far Right, Achcar does not only analyse the tragedy and interpret it, he also offers possible paths for a positive change that somewhat mitigates the bleak future that he foresees.’ --Amira Hass, Haaretz correspondent for the 1967 Occupied Territory and author of Drinking the Sea at Gaza
‘A fresh and timely analysis of the Gaza genocide from multiple perspectives, this book offers a meticulous exploration of the meaning, connotation, background and colonial linkages that have converged in this narrow strip of land. The Gaza Catastrophe is the deepest and most thorough account that examines this genocide.’ --Khaled Hroub, author of Hamas: A Beginner's Guide
'Written in a lively, often withering style, [Achcar] provid[es] a left-wing materialist perspective that has faded in prominence in the Arab world in recent times.' --The Irish Times
'Essential reading.' --Against the Current
‘Achcar reminds us of a real self-commitment that is reflected in international law. This order threatens to be undermined by the genocide in Gaza.’ --Qantara
'A vital critique.' --The New Arab
‘This book underlines Gilbert Achcar’s outstanding reputation as a forensic analyst of Middle East Politics and of the Israel-Palestine conflict.' --Arab Digest
Gilbert Achcar is Emeritus Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at SOAS, University of London. His many books, published in more than twenty languages, include The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder; Perilous Power: The Middle East and US Foreign Policy, with Noam Chomsky; The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives; The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising and The New Cold War: The United States, Russia and China, from Kosovo to Ukraine.
