Product Description

Voices from Israel and the Occupied Territories, as well as around the world, 3xplore the intersection of architecture and politics

Called a "security fence" by the Israeli government and the "apartheid wall" by Palestinians, the barrier currently under construction in the West Bank has been the subject of intense controversy since the first olive tree was uprooted in its path. In violation of a ruling by the International Court of Justice and a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly, the structure juts deep inside Palestinian territory, altering not only the geographical landscape, but the political one as well.

This groundbreaking book includes a collection of outstanding original pieces, along with photographs and maps, that offer a frank critique of the wall from a range of perspectives—legal, historical, architectural, and philosophical. Renowned writer and architect Michael Sorkin has assembled commentary from various international experts, including both Israeli and Palestinian voices. Together they reinforce a view widely held around the world (though not by the government of the United States): Israel's wall can act only as a barrier to future peace.

Contributors include: Suad Amiry, Ariella Azoulay, Terry Boullata, Mike Davis, Sari Hanafi, Stephanie Koury, Dean MacCannell, Ruchama Marton, Adi Ophir, Rebecca Solnit, Anita Vitullo, and Eyal Weizmann.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1191947 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 273 pages

About the Author
Michael Sorkin is an award-winning architect, director of the Graduate Urban Design Program at the City College of New York, and former architecture critic for the Village Voice. His previous books include The Next Jerusalem and After the World Trade Center. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Yes, Let's Be Serious
The other reviewer writes, "And Lindsay Bremner has an article on bantustans in which she fails to note the similarities between Israel (a small area into which Jews in the Middle East have been stuffed, while Jews are not particularly welcome elsewhere in the region) and a bantustan!"

This is slightly lunatic. Most of the Jewish inhabitants of Israel have been "stuffed" into that space by the systematic policy of relocation and nation-building known as Zionism, not herded into it by their hostile neighbors. Among Israel's other striking differences from a bantustan, we should perhaps note its (a) higher standard of living than surrounding states, (b) regional military superpower status, (c) large nuclear arsenal, (d) unique relationship to the world's sole military hyperpower, the US, entailing billions in foreign military and economic aid (largest recipient in both categories of US aid for decades), (e) thriving global trade relationships, (f) thriving tourism industry, (g) inhabitants' freedom to travel or, in most cases, emigrate at any time to Europe or the US (among other destinations), (h) military occupation of adjacent territory and illegal settlement of much of that occupied territory. An archetypal bantustan!

OK -- this isn't exactly a review of the book. But neither was the previous post. I give 5 stars because rational critical discussion of Israel's behavior is sorely needed, and going by my knowledge of Sorkin's earlier anthology on Jerusalem (The Next Jerusalem), this book is highly likely to be rational and responsible.

Be serious
I'm for human rights, and I want human beings to be allowed to be neighbors. But I'm also against murder. The Israeli separation barrier is dramatically reducing murders of Jewish civilians by Arab terrorists, and I approve of that. And I think the authors of this book are refusing to oppose these murders. If they do not like the separation barrier, I think they should try to help stop the murders.

There are some truly awful articles in this book. We see Stephanie Koury defend an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling against the separation barrier in spite of the fact that this ruling may well be the greatest judicial travesty of the 21st century. And Lindsay Bremner has an article on bantustans in which she fails to note the similarities between Israel (a small area into which Jews in the Middle East have been stuffed, while Jews are not particularly welcome elsewhere in the region) and a bantustan!

This book is a barrier to peace.