Gaza, the Key to War and Peace in the Middle East

Part of the series “Scholars in dialogue: six conversations on the modern Middle East", co-presented by the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, IE University Madrid, and Sciences Po - Paris School of International Affairs.

About the Session
Gaza has been since Antiquity a prosperous oasis and a commercial hub that served as a springboard for any Middle Eastern empire to conquer Egypt and for any Nile Valley-based power to attack the Levant. This imperial pendulum went back and forth for centuries until Allenby-led British army entered Gaza in 1917, on the very day that the Balfour declaration was made public in London. But the worst was to come in 1948, with Gaza turning into the enclave of a geographical “strip”, and one quarter of the Arab population of Palestine now cornered on only 1% of their historical homeland. Since then, Israel has waged no less than fifteen wars on Gaza, all won militarily, but lost politically, except the first intifada that paved the way for the first Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Any attempt to revive such a process should start from Gaza that remains the key to war and peace in the Middle East.