The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza - Hardcover

"[A] heart-wrenching narrative...Blumenthal, who was on the ground for part of the offensive, bore witness to the loss of life, shelter, and possessions--but never hope--among Gaza's Palestinian residents...The result is a harrowing, transfixing narrative of a people's ordeal that will provoke and challenge." --Publishers Weekly "An alarming report on Israel's devastating 2014 attack on Gaza... Explosive, pull-no-punches reporting that is certain to stir controversy." --Kirkus "The 51 Day War lays bare some of the names, faces and experiences behind [the] statistics...Blumenthal offers an unembellished look at the misery on the ground in the Gaza Strip during Israel's Operation Protective Edge in 2014." --In These Times "Max Blumenthal's unflinching book on Gaza war must not be ignored...The 51-Day War is the first account by a US journalist of an assault that dropped almost the same tonnage of explosives on Gaza as that on Hiroshima." --Electronic Intifada "The 51 Day War is...a tribute to the resilience of a people facing an indescribable reality. ... Whether reading this book with an advanced knowledge of the history of Israel-Palestine or as an introduction to the conflict, The 51 Day War will leave you better informed and filled with an unquenchable, and very angry, thirst for justice and equality in Palestine and beyond." --Muftah.org "As we would expect from one of the finest and most intrepid journalists working in America today, this meticulous, first-hand report on The Fifty One Day War will stand as the definitive account of the man-made catastrophe so cruelly inflicted on the men, women and children of Gaza in the summer of 2014." --Andrew Cockburn, author of Kill Chain: The Rise of the High Tech Assassins "Max Blumenthal has spent the last decade transforming himself into one of the most vital voices in journalism today, always speaking truth to power with fearlessness and integrity. As with his previous books, The 51 Day War is sure to be talked about for years to come." --Reza Aslan, author of Zealot and No god but God "Max Blumenthal audaciously takes in-your-face, on-the-ground journalism into the realm of geopolitics." --Juan Cole, Informed Comment, author of The New Arabs and Engaging the Muslim World

On July 8, 2014, Israel launched air strikes on Hamas-controlled Gaza, followed by a ground invasion. The ensuing fifty-one days of war left more than 2,200 people dead, the vast majority of whom were Palestinian civilians, including over 500 children. During the assault, at least 10,000 homes were destroyed and, according to the United Nations, nearly 300,000 Palestinians were displaced. Max Blumenthal was in Gaza and throughout Israel-Palestine during what he argues was an entirely avoidable catastrophe. In this explosive work of intimate reportage, Blumenthal reveals the harrowing conditions and cynical deceptions that led to the ruinous war,and tells the human stories.Blumenthal brings the battles in Gaza to life, detailing the ferocious clashes that took place when Israel's military invaded the besieged strip. He radically shifts the discussion around a number of highly contentious issues: the use of civilians as human shields by Israeli forces, the arbitrary targeting of Palestinian civilians, and the radicalization of Israeli public officials and top military personnel. Amid the rubble of Gaza's border regions, Blumenthal recorded the testimonies from scores of residents, documenting potential war crimes committed by the Israeli armed forces while carefully examining the military doctrine that led to them.More than a chronicle of war and devastation, The 51 Day War is an urgent warning that the aftermath of the conflict has made another military assault on Gaza almost inevitable. And while the people of Gaza will once again prove their resilience, the world can no longer just stand aside and watch.