‘A city so rich in trees it looks like a cloth of brocade spread out upon the land’ - Fourteen-century Syrian scholar al-Dimashqi
‘Trees all about the city, olives and almond groves’ - Twentieth century historian Ibrahim Skeik
This was Gaza. Not the Gaza devastated by Israel’s onslaught, reducing this vibrant place to rubble, displacing its entire population. While Palestinian lives, culture and heritage are being destroyed, Gazans preserve their culture and heritage through literature, music, recipes, histories and memories. Daybreak in Gaza weaves together four thousand years of this extraordinary place and people, showcasing the illustrious achievements of the past with insights from Gazans today. Vignettes of artists, acrobats, chefs, shopkeepers and medics tell stories of life, love, displacement and survival, rubbing shoulders with vivid accounts of the warriors and travellers of old. Daybreak in Gaza humanises the people dismissed as mere statistics and ‘collateral damage’, showing Gazans as artists and storytellers living lives full of culture and meaning. The book in your hands seeks to preserve the heritage that has been lost, and that which can never be lost, revealing the wealth of Gaza’s cultural landscape and the depth of its history.
