Reconstruction under siege: the Gaza Strip since 2007 |
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| Authors: | Sultan Barakat Sansom Milton Ghassan Elkahlout |
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| Institution: | 1. Professor of Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar, and Honorary Professor of Politics, University of York, United Kingdom;2. Senior Research Fellow, Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, Doha;3. Assistant Professor, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, and Fellow, Centre for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, Qatar |
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| Abstract: | This paper examines the siege of the Gaza Strip, a self-governing Palestinian territory, since 2007. Research on sieges tends to concentrate on the coping strategies of besieged communities, humanitarian issues associated with the impacts, humanitarian access, and the prioritisation of needs, with little or no attention paid to reconstruction. However, Gaza is unusual as a siege environment within which reconstruction has become a high priority in the aftermath of its three destructive wars with Israel. Following an overview of research on sieges in contemporary warfare and a brief contextualisation of Gaza, this paper examines why reconstruction outcomes have varied over time through the application of a theoretical framework that stipulates the importance of four key factors: time; needs; scarcity; and political context. Based on an analysis of these variables, Gaza was found to be a most-likely case for reconstruction under siege. Nonetheless, the large-scale reconstruction necessary to transform Gaza has not been actualised. |
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| Keywords: | Gaza Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism Israel Palestinian territory post-conflict reconstruction siege |
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