The Virus, the Settler, and the Siege: Gaza in the Age of Corona

This fifth installment of the Current Issues in Depth series by Dr. Ghassan Soleiman Abu-Sittah analyzes Israel’s siege on Gaza in light of the emergence of Covid-19. As Abu-Sittah shows, the drive towards elimination of the virus and the increasingly restrictive enclosure of the indigenous population that is the essential dynamic of settler colonialism provides the best explanation of what Israel is doing in, and to, Gaza. He expands on this insight, laying bare the cold logic behind Israel’s policies towards the Gaza Strip in particular, and the whole of Palestine in general, during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.