Behind the Wall Live, Love, and Struggle in Palestine Rich Wiles Hardcover, 216 pages Potomac Books Inc, 2010 ISBN-10: 1597974390 ISBN-13: 978-1597974394 $26.95 £21.95 Order from Amazon US Order from Amazon UK

Book review by Dennis Y. Loh, MD May 26, 2010 Great movies, great games, and great books are all engrossing and emotionally draining. They all push one to keep forging ahead till the end despite feeling tension, pain, and excitement all along. I’m emotionally exhausted having just finished Richard Wiles’ compelling book, “Behind the Wall---Life, Love, and Struggle in Palestine”. It’s exhausting because the narrative is relentless. It’s exhausting because life is so unfair. It’s exhausting because the injustices are calculated, planned, and perpetrated in the name one belief, Zionism. I thought I knew most of what is described in the book. In fact, not much is novel. But what distinguishes this book from others is its clarity and focus. Individual characters are not exaggerated. Just enough details are given to enable us to see, touch, hear, smell and feel the households, the balcony, the prison cell. You feel like you’re there walking through the neighborhood and chatting with passers by when “incidents” happen. The horror of all forms of violence originates from its unpredictability. That is what the Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) has perfected. It is constant “terror” that permeates these pages because something terrible can happen without prediction. Yes, one gets used to the uncertainty of life; but never enough to have a peaceful mind. That is the prevailing mood of this book. I feel as if I know the individuals described, as if they were my neighbors, friends, or distant relatives. That is how effective this book is written. A long time ago, I read the book Cry My Beloved Country by Alan Payton about Apartheid South Africa. Four decades later, Wiles’ Behind the Wall brought me the same sensation of the necessity to recognize the “evil” in the world as a first step towards “action”. Outstanding reading and recommended for everyone who wants to feel “human.” It will disturb you.