A Wall in Palestine

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. 

Praise

"[A] well-written history of the barrier . . . The most detailed account of the barrier to date. Backmann places the barrier smack in the middle of the controversy over Israeli confiscation of Palestinian lands: He makes a compelling case that Israel set out to expand West Bank Jewish settlements on the Israeli side at the expense of thousands of acres of Palestinian territory."—Linda Gradstein, The Washington Post

 

"[A] beautifully written study of Israel's West Bank barrier wall. I'm always in search of writers who can give voice to the endless nuances of the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians and Backmann nails it . . . Enjoy!"—Jeff Severns Guntzel, Unte

 

"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

 

"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

About the Author(s)

René Backmann

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. 

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

EVEN THE QUALITY OF THE LIGHT

One morning in early August of 2002, the residents of Chiyah, El-Azariyeh, and Ras al-Amud, the Palestinian villages that form the eastern boundary of Jerusalem, discovered that pieces of paper printed with a message in Hebrew had been tacked to the trees during the night. The message, bearing the stamp of the Israeli Defense Forces, was a military order informing residents that some of their land was going to be requisitioned by the army to erect a wall.

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