On Palestine: A brief but essential update
In 2010, Haymarket Books published a collection of interviews and essays from Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé that attempted to make sense of the Gaza War of 2008-2009, otherwise known as Operation Cast Lead. The conflict, which lasted three weeks, ended in a unilateral ceasefire after an opening assault and concluding ground invasion left over 1,200 Palestinians and 13 Israelis (four from friendly fire) dead.
Following the IDF’s vicious incursion, punctuated by airstrikes and artillery barrages, Gaza was left in ruins.
An international humanitarian crisis quickly unfolded: 80 percent of the population now depended on outside assistance, 60 percent of agricultural land was wrecked and tens of thousands were displaced. One year after the mayhem, fewer than 5 percent of Gaza’s homes were rebuilt.
Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel’s War against the Palestinians (2010) provided what one Guardian reviewer called a “fiercely accurate deconstruction of official rhetoric.” It aimed to contextualize the battle in a broader discussion about Israeli-Palestinian relations and answer a set of reflexive questions: How did we get here? What is the road to a lasting peace?
