This book was published as part of Springer's “Evidence-Based Approaches to Peace and Conflict Studies” series. Compiled in response to the escalating tensions in Gaza, it is an English-language volume authored primarily by scholars based in Japan.
 
Most of the content of this book is based on a public symposium addressing the Gaza situation held at the Komaba Campus of the University of Tokyo on November 16, 2023. At the same venue, just one and a half months earlier, another public lecture was held to reflect on the 50th anniversary of the oil shock. In 1973, when Japan faced energy security challenges and began pursuing its Middle Eastern diplomacy, the Palestinian question became central. Chief Cabinet Secretary Susumu Nikaido of the Kakuei Tanaka Cabinet issued a statement declaring that the Japanese government supported a just resolution of the Palestinian question and the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. He concluded by stating, “Depending on how the situation develops in the future, we may have no choice but to reconsider our policy toward Israel.” A delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Takeo Miki, who later became Prime Minister, was dispatched to the Middle East. They traveled to Egypt and Saudi Arabia to explain the Japanese government's stance on Palestinian issues. This diplomatic effort, which had been triggered by the Yom Kippur War, was undertaken with the oil shock in mind. Japanese diplomacy toward the Middle East proceeded independently of U.S. policy in the region until the Gulf Crisis erupted in 1990, when the Japanese Self-Defense Forces were deployed overseas for the first time on a large scale under the banner of international contributions.
 
Fifty years after the oil crisis, the war in Gaza has sharply challenged not only the Japanese government but also Japanese society regarding how to confront the Palestinian question. Scholars are required to reflect on their stances. The publication of this book was also once in jeopardy. This stemmed from the fact that the publisher was cautious about passages that were critical of Israel. While such confusion is unfortunately rare in Japan, there was concern that questioning Israeli policies could be criticized as an anti-Semitic discourse. Through this editing process, I inadvertently witnessed how the English discourse space was constrained by associations with past anti-Semitism. As a person involved in editing this book, I am deeply interested in how it will be evaluated as it moves beyond Japan's discourse space into the English-speaking world. A comparison of this book with other English publications on the Gaza situation is also recommended.
 

(Written by SUZUKI Hiroyuki, Project Associate Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences / 2025)

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Authors’ Interview:
Juno Kawakami, responsible editor for the book Gaza Nakba 2023–2024: Background, Context, Consequences (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-97-4868-6) interviewed the volume editors, Hiroyuki Suzuki and Keiko Sakai, about topics related to their book.  (Springer Nature  August 28, 2025)
https://communities.springernature.com/posts/gaza-nakba-2023-2024-background-context-consequences

Symposium:
The Impending Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza (16th November 2023)  (JSPS Kakenhi “Protest on the Street, and Reconsider the Nation: from the view points of space, violence and resonance” (21H04387, PI: Keiko Sakai), Japan Association for Middle East Studies (JAMES), The University of Tokyo Centre for Middle Eastern Studies (UTCMES)  November 16, 2023)
https://park.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/UTCMES/2023/11/02/symposium/?lang=en

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