Gaza Catastrophe - by Gilbert Achcar (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"A left-wing materialist perspective that has faded in prominence in the Arab world in recent times."―The Irish Times
"Exposes the bankruptcy of Western Liberalism."―Jacobin
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From a foremost expert on the Middle East--a searing indictment of the forces that led to genocidal war on Gaza and its reverberations across the globe.

The destruction rained on Gaza has been seen and accepted by many as a vengeful overreaction to the reckless Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. This book, however, argues that the new catastrophe befalling the Palestinian people is the culmination of a decades-long pattern that runs parallel with Israel's inexorable shift to the right. It also contends that Gaza was the final nail in the coffin of the Atlanticist "international liberal order" before Donald Trump came back to the White House.

Gaza Catastrophe reckons with the lethal consequences far greater than the Nakba of 1948 and the significance of a war waged by an advanced military-industrial state--with full US participation and open 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. Achcar offers critical insights on the genocide's regional and international consequences, as well as radical critiques of Zionism, Hamas, and other state and non-state actors. This volume is essential to understanding the root causes of the violence destabilizing the entire region and the wider world, as well as the conditions required to bring it to an end.

From the Back Cover

"Broad yet focused, Achcar's collection of distressing and 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 banalization of the global far right, Achcar does not only analyze 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 and account 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. Gaza Catastrophe is the deepest and most thorough account that examines this genocide in connection with the Holocaust. Treating the Gaza genocide as an expected consequence of recent history, Achcar maintains historical context throughout his analysis, right up to the very last page."--Khaled Hroub, columnist and author of Hamas: A Beginner's Guide

Review Quotes

"Gaza Catastrophe marks an early but essential contribution to what is sure to become a vast field of scholarship on the origins of the Gaza genocide and its place within world history. . . . For those seeking to comprehend how we arrived at this global precipice and to draw lessons from our collective failure to prevent the Gaza cataclysm, Achcar's book is, and will remain, essential reading."

-- "Perspectives on Politics"

"A highly-researched analytical document of the ongoing Israel's Genocide of Gaza that had begun on October 2023. . . . A timely publication by Gilbert Achcar."

-- "CounterPunch"

"Gilbert Achcar approaches the devastation of Gaza as part of a long historical process, intertwined with internal transformations in Israeli society, the structural crisis of Palestinian politics, the failure of Oslo, international immobility, and a global power system no longer capable of withstanding the weight of its contradictions."

-- "Pianeta Libri News"

"Gilbert Achcar is a prolific and perceptive socialist intellectual of Lebanese origins whose writings over the last two decades and more have illuminated the most salient issues emerging from the Middle East and North Africa region."-- "New Politics"

"This book underlines Gilbert Achcar's outstanding reputation as a forensic analyst of Middle East politics and of the Israel-Palestine conflict."-- "The Arab Weekly"

"Achcar's examination of the Gaza war, its prosecution, and its causes will not be an outlier and will fit comfortably with the growing literature of the new regional order."
-- "Middle East Policy"

"Exposes the bankruptcy of Western Liberalism."-- "Jacobin"

"Essential reading."-- "Against the Current"

"Written in a lively, often withering style, and providing a left-wing materialist perspective that has faded in prominence in the Arab world in recent times."-- "The Irish Times"

About the Author

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.