The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-development
Author: 
Publisher: 
Institute for Palestine Studies
Publication Year: 
2018
Language: 
Arabic
Number of Pages: 
616
TABLE OF CONTENT
Abstract

This book is a translation of the third revised edition of the English language book published in 2016, by the Institute for Palestinian Studies, under the title of “The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-development”.

In the preface of her book, Sara Roy explains the changes that affected Gaza’s economy during the period ending with the ramifications of the massive Israeli aggression in the summer of 2014, named “Operation Enduring Cliff”, one year after that aggression.

In this study, Roy considers that the trajectory of Gaza through the last forty eight years, had transformed it from an area fully integrated with Israel and strongly dependent on it,  as well as having strong ties with the West Bank, into an isolated polity (one that can be discarded easily)  fully isolated from the West Bank as well as from Israel, while subject to repeated Israeli military attacks. Also, Roy shows that harmful transformations can be rendered permanent and institutionalized, thus drawing an undeniably bleak future of Gaza.

Roy proves clearly that the weakness of Gaza is not just catastrophic but also intentional and consequential. Accordingly, Roy sees that the process of impoverishing that she discussed thirty years ago is approaching its logical end: rendering Gaza unsuitable for life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sara Roy is a senior research scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University. Her most recent book is Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza: Engaging the Islamist Social Sector, Princeton University Press, 2011, 2014.