Continuously inhabited for more than 3,000 years at a key strategic crossroads of the region, it has witnessed the rise and fall of dozens of kingdoms and dynasties.

Life at the Crossroads gives the rich history of Gaza from ancient times until the present. The strategic importance of the area geographically is addressed as a crossroads of culture. The role of Gaza in the current conflict with Israel is analyzed in its historical context.The book culminates with the two intifadas and the Israeli war on Gaza in 2008-09, explaining the territory's association with the development of the Islamic movement within the Palestinian community.

 

This book reveals the rich history of Gaza. Continuously inhabited for more than 3,000 years at a key strategic crossroads of the region, it has witnessed the rise and fall of dozens of kingdoms and dynasties. As well as considering the early period, the age of the Pharaohs and the Philistines of the Bible, Life At The Crossroads includes accounts of the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras. The coming of Islam, the interlude of the Crusades and the long period of Ottoman domination bring the story up to the First World War. The crucial history of Gaza in the 20^th century is discussed in the period of the British Mandate and the conflicts with Israel.

 

 

Life at the Crossroads Book Launch Success in Nicosia

Almost 200 guests turned out on a balmy Monday evening in Nicosia on 1 June 2009 to attend the launch of the new edition of "Life at the Crossroads", by Gerald Butt...read more.

Gerald Butt

Author of several books on the Middle East and an award-winning BBC correspondent. 

SAUDI ARAMCO WORLD - Life at the Crossroads

March 15, 2011

This is a comprehensive yet concise chronicle of Gaza's history from ancient times to the end of the 2008-2009 Israeli war against the territory's Hamas-led administration. The author, a former BBC Middle East correspondent, illustrates the part of his narrative that deals with recent times...

THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA - Gaza’s Ancient Treasures Threatened

October 27, 2010

GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Few outside of Gaza would consider its history much beyond the decades of Israeli occupation. But Gaza is a historical treasure house. Many of those treasures are now in Israeli museums, and those that remain are becoming difficult to preserve due to the...

GLOBAL DIALOGUE - Book Review of Life at the Crossroads

April 02, 2010

A Long Experience of War': Gaza in Historical Perspective

Before Israel’s blitz on the Gaza Strip in late-2008/early-2009, one might have found individuals around the world who either had never heard of the territory or were unable to pinpoint...

SUNDAY MAIL - Where the Average Age is 17, 'Life at the Crossroads'

July 26, 2009

The Gaza Strip could so easily have been seen here, had it not been for one simple difference between Cyprus and Palestine: nobody other than Turkey gave them the right to invade Cyprus.

 

Israel was formed following World War II when the British withdrew from their mandate...

CYPRUS WEEKLY - The Flying Journalist - Life at the Crossroads

July 09, 2009

Middle East correspondent Gerald Butt says he has lost the appetite for covering wars, but certainly not for flying small planes.

"When you are flying you are literally off the ground and you have your life in your hands," the nearly 60-year-old Nicosia-based British journalist tells...

AL QUSD AL ARABI - Life at the Crossroads

May 25, 2009

All the invaders who set up camp in the city or on its borders left their mark, before moving on. But what the invaders left in the psyche of the people of Gaza was a hatred of occupation. Centuries of war implanted in the hearts of the inhabitants both a loathing of occupation and the spirit...

GCS Newspaper - Life as a Palestinian

May 01, 2009

Ms Nora Shawwa came to talk to us this term about life as a Palestinian, a life full of hardships that most of us would have never imagined. Palestinians could be described as a nation of refugees. According to UNWRA (the UN Works and Relief Agency), by 2008 the number of Palestinian refugees was...

DANISH DAILY INFORMATION - 'Gazas omtumlede historier under lup'

March 22, 2009

Review in Danish:

 

BBC's tidligere korrespondent Gerald Butt har skrevet en samlet fortælling om Gaza, som strækker sig fra Tuthmosis III til Israels seneste overgreb i vinteren 2008-09

 

Det...

GULF TODAY - PANORAMA- Reviews of Life at the Crossroads & Jerusalemites

March 20, 2009

Two books on Palestine published this month by Rimal Publications, based in Nicosia, , are on display at the Abu Dhabi book fair which opened on Tuesday March 17th and closes on Sunday 22nd. The first, an updated edition of "Life at the Crossroads: A History of Gaza" by Gerald Butt, is...

THE NATIONAL - Author Issues Grim Warning on Gaza

March 16, 2009

NICOSIA - As grieving Gazans rebuild their shattered lives in the aftermath of 's recent onslaught, they can take cold comfort from their remarkably rich and turbulent history.

 

They are among the world's longest-suffering people but also its greatest, most resilient...

OPEN DOORS - The Christians of Gaza

January 04, 2009

A little known fact is the presence of a small but significant Christian Palestinian presence in Gaza. Gerald Butt wrote about them in Life at the Crossroads: History of Gaza.

Carl Moeller of Open Doors has just sent this news and prayer update on their...

THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE - Life at the Crossroads

April 04, 2005

It is perhaps a very appropriate year to re-read Gerald Butt's 1995 Life at the Crossroads: A History of Gaza. The many milestones of this 360 sq. km strip of land and particularly the long and rich history of its capital city, Gaza, are at the epicentre of this precise and very...

MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL - Book Review of Life at the Crossroads

February 09, 1998

Gerals Butt has written a lively, intelligent and highly readable history of Gaza , about which precious little exists, especially in English. This work treats Gaza not as a violent, poor and unwanted backwater of the Middle East , but as one of the oldest living cities in the world, with a...

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE - Book Review of Life at the Crossroads

February 24, 1997

Since January, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of and the Palestinian Authority president, Yasser Arafat, sealed the long awaited agreement to redeploy Israeli troops in Hebron and for Palestinian self-rule, the Authority's main seat in Gaza comes into central focus. Could this tiny strip...

THE NEW YORK TIMES - BOOKS: LIFE AT THE CROSSROADS A History of Gaza

February 24, 1997

SINCE January, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and the Palestinian Authority president, Yasser Arafat, sealed the long awaited agreement to redeploy Israeli troops in Hebron and for Palestinian self-rule, the Authority's main seat in Gaza comes into central focus. Could this tiny...

MIDDLE EAST COUNCIL OF CHURCHES - Book Review of Life at the Crossroads

January 08, 1997

The Gaza Strip. The phrase conjures up scenes of over-population, turmoil, political unrest, tear gas canisters, Israeli soldiers, crowds of rock-throwing and chafiyyeh-clad youths. But what lies behind the current TV news coverage of the area?

 

This slim volume goes into...

JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES - Old History - Life at the Crossroads

September 06, 1996

Gerald Butt is well-known as having been a BBC correspondent in Beirut and Jerusalem throughout much of the 1980's. He provided firm journalistic coverage of the turbulent early years of the Palestinian uprising. In Life at the Crossroads, he has stepped away from the violent complexities of...

AL HAYAT - Life at the Crossroads

June 29, 1996

The British journalist Gerald Butt spent around eight years as correspondent for the BBC, during which time he covered some of the most prominent events in the region, not only as a foreign observer, but as part of the complicated structure of the Middle East, since he was born and brought up...

MIDDLE EAST INTERNATIONAL - Deluged by History: Life at the Crossroads

March 01, 1996

In this, the first comprehensive history of Gaza , Gerald Butt describes the rise and fall in the fortunes of this narrow strip of coast which, for over four millennia, has been a meeting place of European, Asian and African empires and civilizations, a crossroads for conquerors and a major...

THE DAILY STAR - The Crossroads Over and Over Again

February 02, 1996

Rarely does one find a book so descriptive and precise as Life at the Crossroads. The book tells the story of the city of Gaza and its surrounding towns from about 3300 BC till 1994, in short, informative chapters that deal with events as they occurred, without going into unnecessary...

TANMIYA - Book Review of Life at the Crossroads

September 05, 1995

The Gaza Strip is a name familiar to millions outside the Middle East. It is also a name synonymous with an image of political turmoil, poverty hatred and violence. This book's highly informative style shows how violence and human misery are taking place in the land rich in...

THE MAJALLA - The Land of the Intifada, Which Has Always Lived at the Crossroads

March 01, 1994

The intifada could well be the single event that placed Gaza on the world map and made it familiar to millions in the West. However, the scenes of violence the world saw on their TV screens were taking place on a land rich in history. Life at the Crossroads is an attempt by the author of...

Should Be Required Reading for All

Bonnie Neely   July 08, 2010

This book gives a detailed history of Gaza from ancient times through its turbulent present. The first edition, published in 1995 at a time when there was great hope and some optimism that the unrest and warring there would be resolved and peace could begin with the creation of a Palestinian homeland. However, the years that followed not only dashed these hopes but saw the most violent warring to date. Now the author, who was born and has lived in the Middle East all his life, sees possibility that perhaps there can be a glimmer of hope again. He is former Middle East correspondent for BBC and has written five books and presented radio series on the Middle East. The book give excellent and factual information for the reader to understand the background of the present day strife in ways that are never explained on the news, which seeks only to excite and alarm viewers.

This book should be required reading for all world citizens who care about peace and understanding so vitally necessary for our world to survive. We CAN learn to live with global understanding and appreciation of the rights and differences of others. We CAN grow to be a world neighborhood with love and respect for all.

-Amazon Reader Review by Bonnie Neely, Real Travel Adventures

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