“Khalil’s” grandparents raised him on stories of a better time. In their generation, “we used to attend [Israelis’] celebrations, and they would come to ours.” Palestinians were free to travel from Gaza to Jaffa or Jerusalem, and work alongside Israelis. ”When you work with Israelis, and they trust you,” his grandparents told him, “you can live the life you’ve always wished for.”

Without idealizing the largely forgotten period between 1967 and 1987 in Gaza, it is worth recalling the context of the memories Khalil’s grandparents shared. Those two decades saw rapid material improvement in living conditions in the Gaza Strip. Relations between Gaza and Israel led to a steady increase in Gazan workers traveling to the Jewish state, reportedly peaking in 1987 at nearly 40 percent of the workforce. These guest workers enjoyed a daily wage premium roughly 20–40 percent higher than those employed in Gaza itself, and accounted for an enormous share of Palestinian GDP.

Gazans also enjoyed far greater freedom of movement. According to B’Tselem, from 1967 until 1991, “Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip could travel almost entirely freely… Gaza and Israel maintained family ties; students from Gaza studied in West Bank universities; and extensive trade took place among Palestinians, no matter where they lived.” As Nahed al-Ghool, a water delivery man in Gaza, told Al-Jazeera, “The best period of our lives was when we used to work in Israel, 25 or 30 years ago. We were happy, we used to go to Israel or Jordan or Egypt – the roads were open. We lived well, there was money. Today, there’s no money.”