Citation

Barakat S, Milton S, Elkahlout G. Disasters 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Senior Lecturer, Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/disa.12394

PMID

31343753

Abstract

This paper examines the siege of the Gaza Strip since 2007. Research on sieges tends to address the coping strategies employed by besieged communities, and humanitarian issues of the impact of siege, humanitarian access, and the prioritization of needs with little or no attention to reconstruction. However, Gaza is unusual as a siege context under 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 factors - time, needs, political context, and scarcity. Based on these factors, Gaza was found to represent a most-likely case for reconstruction under siege. However, despite these conditions, the large-scale reconstruction necessary to transform Gaza has not actualized. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Gaza; Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism; Israel; Post-Conflict Reconstruction; Siege