Jean-Pierre Filiu – författare

»Ni ville ha ett helvete, och ett helvete kommer ni att få.«Med dessa ord inledde den israeliska armén sitt krig i Gaza efter Hamas massaker den 7 oktober 2023. Sedan dess pågår ett krig vars våld och övergrepp utspelar sig bakom stängda gränser. Ingen utländsk journalist har tillträde till den palestinska enklaven. Allt vi vet om Gaza rapporteras av ett krympande antal palestinska journalister, eller återges utifrån. I december 2024 lyckas ändå Mellanösternhistorikern Jean-Pierre Filiu ta sig in i Gaza och leva där i drygt en månad. Han känner platsen väl – geografin, människorna, språket – men ingenting är nu längre sig likt. Kriget har inte bara ritat om kartan över Gaza, utan rubbat grunderna för den globala folkrätten och de mänskliga rättigheterna. Ingen som läser denna bok kan säga sig vara ovetande om vad som skedde i Gaza. Filiu visar att det som utspelar sig i denna mänsklighetens undantagszon inte är någon enskild händelse. Det är en spegel av vår tids moraliska sammanbrott, med följder som angår oss alla.

Ordet "Mellanöstern" myntades av en amerikan för att beteckna landområdena öster om Medelhavet, och ända sedan USA vann sin självständighet har landet mätt sina krafter med länderna i den regionen.

Den prisbelönte serieskaparen David B. berättar tillsammans med historikern och arabisten Jean-Pierre Filiu en historia om blockader, sjöslag, svek och statskupper – en utrikespolitisk historia om ömsesidigt beroende som, från Gilgamesh till Eisenhower och från guld till olja, oavbrutet har bidragit till att forma dagens värld.

The Middle East, often referred to as the cradle of the three monotheisms, is saturated with symbolism. Situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, it is a land marked by the rich confluence of religions and peoples.  It has also been the focal point of endemic tensions and conflicts, many of which stretch back into the mists of time. 

In this new history of the Middle East, Jean-Pierre Filiu looks beyond religion and focuses his attention on the processes by which powers and their areas of domination were established over time.  His starting point is 395, the year when the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves: at that point, the Middle East emerged as a specific entity, freed from external domination, and a Christianity of the East asserted itself, turned towards Byzantium rather than towards Rome.  From this point on, Filiu follows a strictly Middle Eastern dynamic, tracing the rise and fall of powers linked to the three principal centres of Egypt, Syria, and Iraq and recounting the procession of empires, invasions, and assertions of imperialist ambition that have characterized the region since then.  The book closes in 2022, when the men and women of the Middle East were still struggling for the right to define their destiny by telling their stories in their own voices.

This magisterial and up-to-date history of the Middle East will be essential reading for students and scholars and for anyone interested in the history and politics of one of the most important and contested regions of the modern world.

Through its millennium–long existence, Gaza has often been bitterly disputed while simultaneously and paradoxically enduring prolonged neglect. Jean-Pierre Filiu’s book is the first comprehensive history of Gaza in any language.

Squeezed between the Negev and Sinai deserts on the one hand and the Mediterranean Sea on the other, Gaza was contested by the Pharaohs, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Fatimids, the Mamluks, the Crusaders and the Ottomans. Napoleon had to secure it in 1799 to launch his failed campaign on Palestine. In 1917, the British Empire fought for months to conquer Gaza, before establishing its mandate on Palestine.

In 1948, 200,000 Palestinians sought refuge in Gaza, a marginal area neither Israel nor Egypt wanted. Palestinian nationalism grew there, and Gaza has since found itself at the heart of Palestinian history. It is in Gaza that the fedayeen movement arose from the ruins of Arab nationalism. It is in Gaza that the 1967 Israeli occupation was repeatedly challenged, until the outbreak of the 1987 intifada. And it is in Gaza, in 2007, that the dream of Palestinian statehood appeared to have been shattered by the split between Fatah and Hamas. The endurance of Gaza and the Palestinians make the publication of this history both timely and significant.

Through its millennium-long existence, Gaza has often been bitterly disputed, yet enduringly neglected. Squeezed between the Negev and Sinai deserts and the Mediterranean Sea, Gaza was contested by everyone from the Pharaohs, Persians, Greeks and Romans to the Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans and British. And, since 1948, Gaza has been at the heart of Palestinian nationalism and history.



Filiu’s book was the first comprehensive history of Gaza to be published in any language. This new, updated edition covers events since 2011, including Gaza’s renewed tragic centrality to world politics and security since the events of October 2023: history’s worst attack on Israel, provoking history’s worst war against the Palestinians.