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by Rene Backmann
Paperback Original. 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.
"Starred Review. 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
"It's clear that there is no impartiality in the region, and Backmann is unable to hide his own bias. An impassioned text that combines polemic incitement with assiduous geographical insight." - Kirkus 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 Carré
"René Backmann has followed all aspects of this battle engrained in the hills of the West Bank. He has met with those who are building the wall and those who feel its effects. He has heard the arguments of its defenders and spoken with those who resist them." - Le Monde (France)
"René Backmann describes the effects--political, economic, and human--of the wall that is being built in the West Bank by the Israeli government." - Le Figaro (France)
This information about A Wall in Palestine was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
René Backmann is an international affairs columnist at Le Nouvel Observateur foreign desk. In 1991 he was awarded the Prix Mumm, France’s highest honor for journalism.
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