Failing Peace: Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

by Sara Roy

"Unique . . . [Roy] is humanely rather than only professionally committed in ways that are unmatched by any other non-Palestinian scholar. . . . No one has reported more accurately and scrupulously on the economic devastation attendant on the Oslo process." Edward W. Said "Sara Roy's work has played a significant, sometimes unique role, in bringing [these] issues to life. . . . Indispensable." Irene Gendzier, Professor of History, Boston University This book is the culmination of 20 years of research, fieldwork and analysis on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the impact of Israeli occupation. Discussion of Israeli policy toward Palestinians is often regarded as a taboo subject, with the result that few people -- especially in the U.S. -- understand the origins and consequences of the conflict. Roy's book provides an indispensable context for understanding why the situation remains so intractable. The focus of Roy's work is the Gaza Strip, an area that remains consistently neglected and misunderstood despite its political centrality. Drawing on more than two thousand interviews and extensive first-hand experience, Roy chronicles the impact of Israeli occupation in Palestine over nearly a generation. Exploring the devastating consequences of socio-economic and political decline, this is a unique and powerful account of the reality of life in the West Bank and Gaza. Written by one of the world's foremost scholars of the region, it offers an unrivalled breadth of scholarship and insight.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Middle East, Political Science

408 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 2006

Reviews

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read about 40 books, from both the right and the left, on the Israel-Palestine conflict over the last few years. They usually start to repeat themselves -- but this one was different.

Roy documents how Israeli policy affects the economic and social conditions in Gaza. She explores how these conditions naturally lead to resistance movements and, while she certainly does not condone terrorism, she acknowledges that violent resistance is a foreseeable consequence of historic and current Israeli policy towards the territories. Does that mean that she thinks Hamas's terrorism is justified? Absolutely not. But she does argue that this foreseeability should inform how we assess the Israeli government's decisions. In particular, Roy argues that the Likud-led Israeli government's quest to indefinitely deny Palestinian statehood -- complete with its attendant unwillingness to sacrifice economic control over Gaza even without technically "occupying" it -- has virtually guaranteed that the current unrest in Gaza will continue with devastating consequence for both sides.

That's not a super novel hypothesis, but there are a few special things going on here. For one thing, we're focused entirely on Gaza, as opposed to the West Bank. The book also takes a deep dive into economic analysis in ways that I hadn't previously appreciated. Roy exhaustively documents the economic effects of various Israeli policies designed to control Gazans, including closures, curfews, permit systems, and trade restrictions (among many other policies). She explains how Israel's economic control over Gaza continued long after Israel technically withdrew from the territory, and she maintains that the Oslo and subsequent peace processes were destined to fail so long as Israel is not required to effectively cede this economic control over the territories.

A lot of this book is also about Hamas. As a starting point, Roy documents the ways in which Israel intentionally delegitimized and subverted the Palestinian Authority (PA) in order to weaken its ability to negotiate for Palestinian statehood. She then explores, in great detail, how the PA's failure to adequately provide services to Gazans directly led to the rise of Hamas, which gained popular support solely in its capacity as a provider of social services for Gazans. She documents the fact that the vast majority of Gazans that voted for Hamas also explicitly denounced its politico-nationalist platform, and that the meager support that Hamas *does* eke out for its politico-nationalist platform has virtually only spiked after Gazans viewed Israel as unresponsive to nonviolent protest. Perhaps most damning was the well-documented and often declassified evidence making clear that, behind the scenes, Likud leaders have viewed and treated Hamas as a natural ally in its capacity as the only substantive rival to the PA.

I can't stress how important I think it is for everyone to balance their media consumption, especially on this issue. If you shade more towards the pro-Israel side of things, then this book would be good for that. It is a responsible and intellectually honest assessment of how Gaza has gotten to where it is today. The author, Sarah Roy, is an Israeli Jewish woman who largely sticks to well-documented facts that can be cited to reputable sources. I've read Chomsky and Pappe, and, while they have their benefits, it's worth noting that this book is nothing like that. This is a serious academic book that is not intended to be inflammatory. It sticks to the facts and it acknowledges its weaknesses. It seeks to bridge the gap rather than inflame polarization. It is the real deal.

FWIW, here's my bias report on myself: I'm Jewish, and I technically see myself as a liberal Zionist that supports a 2-state solution. What does that mean? It means that I believe in Israel's right to exist as a Jewish-majority state within its pre-1967 borders. Put another way, I think there are two nations that each have valid and competing claims to the same stretch of land. I believe each should nation should compromise and claim a portion for its people. As a result, although I think the Nakba is a tragedy, I do not think there should be an *unlimited* Palestinian right to return **within Israel's pre-1967 borders** because any *unlimited* right to return would effectively undermine Israel's ability to exist as a Jewish-majority state. Some other stuff on my POV: I've taken an extended trip to Israel, I have numerous friends that live there, and I feel a deep historic and religious connection and respect for that land -- and my care for this land is exactly why I've felt the need to educate myself on this topic, especially so from varied sources both from the right and the left of my own opinions. I loudly and vocally denounce Hamas's terrorism, and I acknowledge and fear the rise in anti-Semitism that I see around me. But I also recognize that pro-Palestine protest is almost entirely not anti-Semitic, and I *strongly* denounce most of Bibi's policies and can clearly see how those policies have contributed to where we are today. Israel certainly has a very real right to defend itself (albeit in accordance with international law). But going forward, Israel must also make more responsible and humane decisions, even if only for its own citizens' long-term safety.

The vast majority of my American friends do not have a balanced factual understanding of this history. I know that their opinions would differ to some extent, even if just on the margins, if they did. This would be a good book for them to read.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is less of an introduction or overview of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in Gaza than I expected. Instead, Sara Roy presents a compelling case for why all attempts at a peace deal since the first Intifadah were doomed to fail so long as the occupation continues. As a collection of previously published essays, the book can get rather repetitive to read with many of the points Roy made during the first Intifadah being made again by the time of the second. The book can also feel outdated as nearly twenty years have passed since the second Intifadah. My biggest problem with the book, which thankfully doesn't emerge often, is Roy's continued commitment to a two-state solution that leaves the original UN partition relatively unquestioned.

[Fran Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent about Hamas, Oslo, camp David and much much more

[Fares Amer · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely brilliant

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent compilation of the author’s writings about Gaza, spanning 1991 to Israel’s disengagement in 2005. Roy makes it clear that Gaza had been devastated by Israel’s occupation along before Hamas became a household name. The first pieces in the book mention that, even before the Oslo accords, many children were going to school hungry, eating only one meal a day that consisted of some bread with seasoning. She exhaustively documents the economic devastation wrought by the Oslo process; indeed, it’s hard to imagine a better compilation of raw statistical data in that regard than chapter 16 of the book, titled “Ending the Palestinian Economy.” Another standout is chapter 18, titled “A Dubai on the Mediterranean,” which makes short shift of disingenuous arguments that the Gaza Disengagement Plan was somehow a good-faith effort to promote peace, when in fact it was very plainly designed to suffocate Gaza while enabling Israel to both wash its hands of the territory and to maintain total control over the lives of its residents. And, of course, to give it just enough political capital in Washington to ensure that its occupation of the West Bank could both continue and expand indefinitely, without any pushback from the United States.

The conclusion is also memorable, even haunting. It is largely raft of optimism, and forces greater violence and injustice to come. Almost 20 years later, we know what has happened to Gaza since: one round of bombardment and attack after another, culminating in history’s most public and shameless genocide.

My only quibble with this book is that Roy concludes with a plea to end the occupation, calling it “the only solution to the conflict“ and a means to “recreate the ordinary so that both Palestinians and Israeli can finally lead a normal life.“ It is frankly surprising to see such an esteemed academic saying such a thing. Of course, the occupation is the most immediate and the ugliest manifestation of what Israel has done and is doing to the Palestinians. But anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the history of the region knows that it goes much deeper than that. So long as Palestinians within Israel continue to be barely-tolerated, second class citizens, and so long as the right of return of those who were ethnically cleansed in 1948 (and their descendants) goes unfulfilled, the conflict will continue.

[Merricat Blackwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinarily good. It's really important for Americans (and others - I'm just speaking about Americans because I am one) to understand what Palestinians were asked to accept over the course of the abortive "peace process"--the ongoing theft of land, the denial of basic human rights of refugees, the loss of basic conditions of being a nation like control over one's own borders and trade--to counteract the deeply under-evidenced ideas that so many people have absorbed that Palestinians are just a naturally combative people, or that the root of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is antisemitism. Sara Roy is a great messenger, both because her research is so thorough and so excellent and because she herself is so obviously not a radical. It's deeply valuable that Roy grounds this work in her own liberal Jewish humanism and experience as the child of Holocaust survivors, and it's also valuable that throughout this book she's so often speaking as the most mainstream American creature imaginable, a free-market-advocating economist.

[Nels van Ravenhorst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book 20 years after it was written and knowing what has happened since was incredibly interesting but mostly heartbreaking. The author presents a compelling case for why all attempts at a peace deal since the first intifada were doomed to fail so long as the occupation continues. It is deeply saddening to see these points being made and the warnings that were given. It is a shame the west refused to listen.

[Lavanya]

Gives a overview of the Israel Palestinian conflict, it's origin, state of gaza, origins of Hamas and failure of the oslo peace talks. It gave a good overview but got repetitive and hyperbolically when the author talks about black milk and state of the refugees.

[Water Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crucial reading to understand the conflict in the Middle East.