The outlet, The Markaz Review, has run an edited extract from my book, The Palestine Laboratory, and I’ve written a brief introduction, post 7 October, to frame the work:
History didn’t begin on October 7, 2023. Palestine was occupied long before then.
And yet the brutal Hamas attacks on October 7 were unprecedented. Daring in execution and merciless towards Israeli civilians, the Israeli response was always going to be overwhelming. True to form, the Jewish state unleashed a disproportionate bombardment of Gaza, killing at least 15,000 civilians at the time of writing and displacing the majority of 2.3 million Palestinian citizens residing there. Most of my Gazan friends have lost their homes, refugees in their own land.
My book was released in May 2023, nearly six months before the Hamas attacks, but it’s exploded in popularity around the world since October 7 because many people want to understand how Israel tried (and failed) to imprison the entire population of Gaza in a techno-dystopian jail. Gazans have long been the ultimate guinea-pigs in a cruel, 24/7 testing ground with the most sophisticated forms of Israeli drones, surveillance equipment and “smart” fences. However, Israel fell victim to technical hubris, the belief that the most expensive forms of repressive tech would bring security.
Israelis will never be safe while Palestinians live under occupation.
Read the whole piece: The Palestine Laboratory and Gaza: An Excerpt – The Markaz Review