Gaza - by Norman Finkelstein (Paperback)

About the Book

"Gaza is among the most densely populated places in the world. Two-thirds of its inhabitants are refugees, and more than half the population is under eighteen years of age. Since Israel occupied Gaza in 1967, it has systematically de-developed the economy. After Hamas won democratic elections in 2006, Israel intensified its blockade of Gaza, and after Hamas consolidated its control of the territory in 2007, Israel tightened its illegal siege another notch. In the meantime, Israel has launched no less than eight military operations against Gaza--culminating in Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 and Operation Protective Edge in 2014--that left behind over three million tons of rubble. Recent UN reports predict that Gaza will be unlivable by 2020. Norman G. Finkelstein presents a meticulously researched and devastating inquest into Israel's actions of the last decade. He argues that although Israel justified its blockade and violent assaults in the name of self-defense, in fact these actions were cynical exercises of brutal power against an essentially defenseless civilian population. Based on hundreds of human rights reports, the book scrutinizes multifarious violations of international law Israel committed both during its operations and in the course of its decade-long siege of Gaza. It is a monument to Gaza's martyrs and a scorching accusation against their tormenters"--

Book Synopsis

"In its comprehensive sweep, deep probing and acute critical analysis, Finkelstein's study stands alone."--Noam Chomsky

"No one who ventures an opinion on Gaza . . . is entitled to do so without taking into account the evidence in this book."
--The Intercept

The Gaza Strip is among the most densely populated places in the world. More than two-thirds of its inhabitants are refugees, and more than half are under eighteen years of age. Since 2004, Israel has launched eight devastating "operations" against Gaza's largely defenseless population. Thousands have perished, and tens of thousands have been left homeless. In the meantime, Israel has subjected Gaza to a merciless illegal blockade.

What has befallen Gaza is a man-made humanitarian disaster.

Based on scores of human rights reports, Norman G. Finkelstein's new book presents a meticulously researched inquest into Gaza's martyrdom. He shows that although Israel has justified its assaults in the name of self-defense, in fact these actions constituted flagrant violations of international law.

But Finkelstein also documents that the guardians of international law--from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to the UN Human Rights Council--ultimately failed Gaza. One of his most disturbing conclusions is that, after Judge Richard Goldstone's humiliating retraction of his UN report, human rights organizations succumbed to the Israeli juggernaut.

Finkelstein's magnum opus is both a monument to Gaza's martyrs and an act of resistance against the forgetfulness of history.

From the Back Cover

"This is the voice I listen for, when I want to learn the deepest reality about Jews, Zionists, Israelis, and Palestinians. Norman Finkelstein is surely one of the forty honest humans the Scripture alludes to who can save 'Sodom' (our Earth) by pointing out, again and again, the sometimes soul-shriveling but unavoidable Truth. There is no one like him today, but in my bones I know this incredible warrior for Humanity and Justice is an archetype that has always been. And will always be. Small comfort in these dark times, perhaps, but a comfort I am deeply grateful for."--Alice Walker, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for The Color Purple

"As a modern-day Sisyphus, rolling the heavy boulder up the hill of disinformation, Norman Finkelstein does not waver in his determination to take it to the crest. Although a non-lawyer, he masters the legal issues, the Geneva Conventions, ICJ advisory opinions, UN resolutions, and commission reports, weaving them into a compelling narrative, an articulate appeal for justice, a protest against the moral cop-out of the international community. Finkelstein refutes the Big Lie and many arcane little lies about Gaza and Palestine. A scholarly manual for every politician and every person concerned with human rights."--Alfred de Zayas, Professor of Law, Geneva School of Diplomacy, and UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order

"Norman Finkelstein, probably the most serious scholar on the conflict in the Middle East, has written an excellent book on Israel's invasions of Gaza. Its comprehensive examination of both the facts and the law of these assaults provides the most authoritative account of this brutal history."--John Dugard, Emeritus Professor of Public International Law, Leiden University, and former Special Rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 2001-2008

"No scholar has done more to shed light on Israel's ruthless treatment of the Palestinians than Norman Finkelstein. In Gaza, he meticulously details Israel's massacres of the Palestinians in that tiny enclave during Operations Cast Lead and Protective Edge, while demolishing the myths Israel and its supporters have invented to disguise these shocking events."--John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago

"This is an exceptional, singular work that will stand as a vital contribution to the literature on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Middle East politics, while also securing an essential place in the fields of international and human rights law. Gaza is an indispensable resource for scholars, jurists, policy makers, and diplomats alike. A landmark."--Sara Roy, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University

Review Quotes

"Finkelstein is not only a leading voice on Gaza, but in a world where expertise is casually disavowed and penetrating research cast aside, perhaps the voice on Gaza."-- "Substack"

"Finkelstein's work remains the very best of accounts of a tragedy and a crime in progress in Palestine."-- "Morning Star Online"

"Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom is a powerful call to intensify our campaign to bring about justice for the Palestinian people which has been denied them for so long . . . It is a work of exacting and thorough scholarship, encyclopedic in its coverage of the detail of the terrible treatment of the Palestinians of Gaza, and stands both as a reference guide to the subject and an appeal for justice."-- "Spokesman: Journal of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation"

"Gaza is a tour de force. Finkelstein unravels the facade that Israel and its allies aim to create, exposing the double standards of the US government, the UN and even human rights organisations."--Neve Gordon, "Times Higher Education"

"A meticulous 440-page study of international law, of Israel's sustained attacks against Gaza and its people and offers what may well be the definitive history of one of the most horrifying and sustained campaigns of collective punishment in modern world history." -- "The Intercept"

"An extraordinary book."-- "Bullet"

"Anyone who chooses to read Gaza: An Inquest into its Martyrdom bears witness to the harrowing Truth and preserves it in the collective memory."-- "Palestine Chronicle"

"Finkelstein's book is a stark reminder of the facets which have incarcerated Gaza to an extent that its political voice has been rendered irrelevant by the international community. The unravelling of misrepresentation and collaboration to ensure Israel's impunity at an international level are brought together as referenced, detailed facts. Finkelstein's demolition of colonial and international propaganda vindicates his objective 'to refute that Big Lie by exposing each of the little lies."-- "Middle East Monitor"

"His research and his precise inquest into Israel's wars on Gaza raises many questions about not only the vicious right-wing nature of successive Israeligovernments, but also the failure of international law, the human rights industry and the UN to be anything other than bystanders . . . Finkelstein's systematic and analytical exposé is a necessary read."-- "Socialist Lawyer"

"In its comprehensive sweep, deep probing and acute critical analysis, Finkelstein's study stands alone."-- "Noam Chomsky"

"Its passionate and painstaking attempt to counter Israeli deception deserves our close attention."-- "CounterFire"

"No one who ventures an opinion on Gaza . . . is entitled to do so without taking into account the evidence in this book. For that, at least, the people of Gaza owe a debt to Norman Finkelstein. . . . Offers what may well be the definitive history of one of the most horrifying and sustained campaigns of collective punishment in modern world history.""-- "The Intercept"

"Norman Finkelstein has the moral gravity of an Old Testament prophet, the scrupulous attention to detail of a Talmudic scholar, and the mordant sense of humor of a Yiddish novelist. All these attributes are on display in Gaza: An Inquest Into its Martyrdom. . . . The cumulative impact of Finkelstein's meticulously-documented 408-page chronicle is devastating, and it will leave the reader stunned that the worldwide reaction is so muted."-- "Mondoweiss"

"One would be hard pressed to find such crucial analysis in the US press, or the wider western media for that matter. . . . For both seasoned and newer readers of the conflict, Gaza is a must read; a serious commitment to revealing hard truths in their rawest form."-- "New Arab"

"Readers with fixed positions, either in agreement or disagreement with Finkelstein, will find much to engage with here." -- "Publishers Weekly"

"Recommended . . . for a review of the evidence of Israel's wrongdoing that is buried or downplayed."-- "Current Affairs"

"The factual record compiled here will be of interest to future historians on all sides." -- "CHOICE"

About the Author

Norman G. Finkelstein received his doctorate from the Princeton University Department of Politics. His many books have been translated into some fifty foreign editions. He is a frequent lecturer and commentator on the Israel-Palestine conflict.