Please note the pages on this book have been produced with bevelled or rough edge to create an old style look. The publisher has deliberately chosen to produce the book this way.
Product Description
The West Bank Barrier is expected to be completed in 2010. Declared illegal by the United Nations International Court of Justice, this network of concrete walls, trenches, and barbed-wire fences could permanently redraw one of the most disputed property lines in the Middle East – the Green Line that separates Israel and the West Bank.
To Israel, the security fence is intended to keep Palestinian terrorists from entering its territory. But to Palestinians, the apartheid wall that sliced through orchards and houses, and cuts off family members from one another, is a land grab.
In this comprehensive book, Backmann not only addresses the barrier's impact on ordinary citizens, but how it will shape the future of the Middle East. Though it promises security to an Israeli population weary of terrorism, it also is responsible for the widespread destruction of Palestinian homes and farmland; with its Byzantine checkpoint regulations, it has also severely crippled the Palestinian economy; and, most urgent, the barrier often deviates from the Green Line, appropriating thousands of acres of land, effectively redrawing the boundary between the West Bank and Israel.
Backmann interviews Israeli policy makers, politicians, and military personnel, as well as Palestinians living throughout the West Bank, telling the stories not only of the barrier's architects, but also of those who must reckon with it on a day-to-day basis on the ground.
About the Author
Rene Backmann is an international affairs columnist at Le Nouvel Observateur foreign desk. In 1991 he was awarded the Prix Mumm, France's highest honour for journalism.
Industry Reviews
'A Wall in Palestine is more than a book about a wall. It takes us directly, dramatically, into the lives of the Palestinians living under Israeli occupations. It cannot fail to move anyone who reads it. It goes beyond journalism because it is a cry for attention from the world.' Howard Zinn
'A tragic story told with truth and passion.' John le Carre
'With extensive boots-on-the-ground journalism and close examination of the historical record, Backmann demonstrates that while Israeli security concerns are real, the wall is undeniably also a political tool with life-shattering implications for the Palestinians whose lives it surrounds and constricts. In gathering these various voices in one powerful and accessible book, Backmann makes a vital contribution to the discourse surrounding the potential for peace in the region -
and the costs the conflict continues to extract.' Publishers Weekly starred review
'An impassioned text that combines polemic incitement with assiduous geographical insight.' Kirkus
'Anyone who wants to know why the route of the wall that separates Israel from the Palestinians is winding deep into occupied land should read Rene Backmann's superb book, A Wall In Palestine.' Joe Sacco, author of Palestine, Safe Area Gorazde, and Footnotes in Gaza
'Superb . . . Backmann's book demonstrates a relentless continuity of Israeli purpose, now cemented by a fence.' Roger Cohen, The New York Times
'Sometimes a third party sees better than the parties involved. Rene Backmann's vivid, courageous book sheds much-needed light onto both sides of the West Bank Barrier.' Avraham Burg, author of The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From Its Ashes
'An important book that will not only tell you everything about the wall Israel is building in Palestine, but by separating lies from propaganda and myth from fact it explains better than most the intricacies of the Arab-Israeli conflict.' Raja Shehad
