Ilana Feldman Police Encounters sku-42886612 Hardcover

Ilana Feldman's Police Encounters: Security and Surveillance in Gaza under Egyptian Rule is a hardcover listed under Middle Eastern History Books (sku-42886612). Egypt came to govern Gaza after a war and a failed effort to maintain Arab Palestine. During its administration from 1948 to 1967, Egyptian police addressed crime, politics, and social and moral order.

Surveillance, interrogation and local informants extended policing into public and private life. Authorities viewed Palestinians as security threats and as people needing protection. Drawing on daily police records, the book examines how concerns about national interest, social propriety and everyday illegality shaped this security apparatus.

Policing made society relatively safe while blocking independent political activity. It also gave people ways to make claims of government, influence neighbors and protect their families, even as surveillance and repression produced suspicion.