Overview

Noted historian of Gaza, Jean-Pierre Filiu, spent a month there between December and January 2025. This is his up-close, immersive documentary of reality inside the Palestinian enclave. Filiu is a historian who specialises in Gazan history and has travelled there regularly since 1980. His acclaimed Gaza: A History was Winner of the Middle East Monitor Palestine Book Award and a Guardian Book of the Year. He also knows the Arabic dialect spoken there. In December, 2024, he once again crossed into Gaza, albeit under unimaginably different circumstances: at the time, only two convoys per week were allowed through the border crossings. In January 2025, Filiu returned. Writing in a lyrical but frank tone, he reveals a portrait of grim reality, delivering a book that is in part war reportage, and in part a narrative of human suffering. People living in Gaza must fight to find fresh water, eat proper meals, move from one city to another and struggle to obtain medical care if wounded. These quotidian are described in a manner that forces us to confront what is happening in Gaza every single day.

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9781805265252

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Reviews

'[A] searing new eyewitness account [and] a much-needed history lesson.'  * <b><I>Jacobin</I></b> * 'This superb book is written by a historian who has experienced many wars and who has visited Gaza since 1982. Filiu writes, ""the Gaza I'd known [had] ceased to exist"". The shock and revulsion at what he witnessed there, where death now can come at any time, comes through on every page. Written with empathy and deep knowledge of the place and its people, Filiu puts the reader right at the centre of Gaza's horrific reality. I was moved to the bone reading his account, which is like no other I've read on Gaza. Filiu concludes that ""this is a world where giving up is disguised as 'realism'"". Not so for the author of A Historian in Gaza.' * <b>Raja Shehadeh, Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist and author of <I>What Does Israel Fear from Palestine?</I></b> * 'From the viewpoint of its victims, Filiu documents how Israel's extermination machine progressed. He records Gazans' struggle to escape death at the cost of living as traumatised survivors. A must read for those who stay committed to human rights and a better world.' * <b>Menachem Klein, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Bar-Ilan University, author of <I>Lives in Common: Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Hebron</I></b> * 'Never has the role of historian been more urgent. Filiu's courage, profound insight and first-hand experience make his book a singular contribution to our understanding of the Gaza genocide and its global impact.' * <b>Mark LeVine, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of California, Irvine, author of <I>We'll Play till We Die: Journeys Across a Decade of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World</I></b> * 'Filiu, the pre-eminent historian of Gaza, tells a factual, and yet passionate, humane story of lives subjected to genocide. In each of the short chapters, Filiu records what happens in homes, families, on the street, in hospitals, in the media and elsewhere, providing a vivid account of unimaginable destruction and ruination while the world watches, and sometimes applauds. This book is an important history of the present of Gaza and its people that should be essential reading to all concerned with humanity and what it means to be human.' * <b>Dina Matar, Professor, Political Communication and Arab Media, SOAS, University of London</b> *

'[A] searing new eyewitness account [and] a much-needed history lesson.'  * <b><I>Jacobin</I></b> * 'This superb book is written by a historian who has experienced many wars and who has visited Gaza since 1980. Filiu writes, ""the Gaza I'd known [had] ceased to exist"". The shock and revulsion at what he witnessed there, where death now can come at any time, come through on every page. Written with empathy and deep knowledge of the place and its people, Filiu puts the reader right at the centre of Gaza's horrific reality. I was moved to the bone reading his account, which is like no other I've read on Gaza. Filiu concludes that ""this is a world where giving up is disguised as 'realism'"". Not so for the author of A Historian in Gaza.' -- * <b>Raja Shehadeh, Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist and author of <I>What Does Israel Fear from Palestine?</I></b> * ‘Jean-Pierre Filiu is not just an authority on Gaza, he was there during the genocide. This is not an impassioned screed. A Historian in Gaza is a methodical, sober account of Israel’s campaign to visit hell upon the people of Gaza and eliminate all aspects of its civil society. An important, essential book.’ * <b>Joe Sacco, cartoonist, journalist, author of <i>Palestine, Footnotes in Gaza</i>, and <i>The Once and Future Riot</i></b> * 'Filiu, the pre-eminent historian of Gaza, tells a factual, and yet passionate, humane story of lives subjected to genocide. In each of the short chapters, Filiu records what happens in homes, families, on the street, in hospitals, in the media and elsewhere, providing a vivid account of unimaginable destruction and ruination while the world watches, and sometimes applauds. This book is an important history of the present of Gaza and its people that should be essential reading to all concerned with humanity and what it means to be human.' * <b>Dina Matar, Chair of the Centre for Global Media and Communications, SOAS University of London</b> * 'Never has the role of historian been more urgent. Filiu's courage, profound insight and first-hand experience make his book a singular contribution to our understanding of the Gaza genocide and its global impact.' * <b>Mark LeVine, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of California, Irvine, author of <I>We'll Play till We Die: Journeys Across a Decade of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World</I></b> * 'From the viewpoint of its victims, Filiu documents how Israel's extermination machine progressed. He records Gazans' struggle to escape death at the cost of living as traumatised survivors. A must-read for those who stay committed to human rights and a better world.' * <b>Menachem Klein, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Bar-Ilan University, author of <I>Lives in Common: Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Hebron</I></b> *

'[A] searing new eyewitness account [and] a much-needed history lesson.'  * <b><I>Jacobin</I></b> * 'This superb book is written by a historian who has experienced many wars and who has visited Gaza since 1982. Filiu writes, ""the Gaza I'd known [had] ceased to exist"". The shock and revulsion at what he witnessed there, where death now can come at any time, comes through on every page. Written with empathy and deep knowledge of the place and its people, Filiu puts the reader right at the centre of Gaza's horrific reality. I was moved to the bone reading his account, which is like no other I've read on Gaza. Filiu concludes that ""this is a world where giving up is disguised as 'realism'"". Not so for the author of A Historian in Gaza.' * <b>Raja Shehadeh, Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist and author of <I>What Does Israel Fear from Palestine?</I></b> *

'[A] searing new eyewitness account [and] a much-needed history lesson.'  * <b><I>Jacobin</I></b> *

Author Information

Jean-Pierre Filiu is a historian of Gaza and the wider Palestinian question. He was a delegate for the International Federation for Human Rights in Lebanon during the civil war, and diplomatic advisor to the French government in Jordan, Syria, and Tunisia. He has taught at Columbia University, Georgetown University, Harvard, and is now a professor at Sciences Po Paris, where he teaches courses on Palestine. His previous book, Gaza: A History is published by Hurst.

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