A Wall in Palestine

Rene Backmann

ISBN 10: 0312427816 / ISBN 13: 9780312427818

Published by Picador USA, US, 2010

About this Item

The West Bank Barrier is expected to be completed in 2010. This network of high 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 meant to keep Palestinian terrorists from entering its territory. But to Palestinians, the 'apartheid wall' that slices through orchards and houses, and cuts off family members from one another, is a landgrab. Backmann interviews Israeli policy makers, politicians, and military personnel, as well as Palestinians living throughout the West Bank, and brings to us not only the stories of the barrier's architects, but also of those who must reckon with it on a day to day basis on the ground. "A Wall in Palestine" is the only book-length examination of the barrier - its purpose, its efficacy, its consequences - and an affecting story about two cultures who have arrived at a devastating endgame, one which may occlude the possibility of peace for generations to come.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780312427818

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Wall in Palestine
• Publisher: Picador USA, US
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312427816
• ISBN 13: 9780312427818
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

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.

With bold, brilliant, and often impassioned reportage, A Wall in Palestine renders the West Bank Barrier--its purpose, its efficacy, its consequences--as no book before.

About the Author

René Backmann is the Editor-in-Chief of Le Nouvel Observateur's foreign desk.  He has been an investigative reporter and foreign correspondent for more than forty years. In 1999, he was awarded the Prix Mumm, France's highest honor for journalism.