Israel’s pulverization of Gaza since October 7 2023 is not only a humanitarian crisis but an
environmental catastrophe. Far from the first event of its kind the devastation Israel has
inflicted on Palestine since October 2023 has merely ushered in a new phase in a long history
of colonization and extraction that reaches back to the nineteenth century. In this book
Andreas Malm argues that a true understanding of the present crisis requires a longue durée
analysis of Palestine' s subjugation to fossil empire. Returning to the British empire’s
first use of steam-power in war in which it destroyed the Palestinian city of Akka Malm
traces the development of Britain’s fossil empire and shows how this enduring commitment to
fossil energy continues to drive Western support for the destruction of Palestine today.
