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Unholy Land

In Search of Hope in Israel/Palestine

Witt Raczka

Traveling major highways and secondary roads, walking unpaved paths, the author recites contradictions of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, the Holy Land. Here, religion uneasily confronts politics and democracy, sublime nature undergoes militarization, and hospitality and empathy mix with brutality, hatred and violence.

Everything becomes security: not just borders and relations with the neighbors, but also water and archaeological evidence, demography and voting Arabs. Control of holy sites, perception of illegal immigrants, separate highway networks and built-up hilltops are all viewed through the prism of threat and security. Threats proliferate, be they real or imaginary, spontaneous or politically-driven. Whether in Jerusalem, the “city of the world”, or in small towns, tensions are palpable between Israel’s radical Jews and its Arab residents. Even within the Jewish community itself, increasingly nationalistic, animosities between ultra-Orthodox and more secular inhabitants are on the rise. Christians also feel under attack, as do moderate Palestinians from their Islamized brethren. In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian villagers confront radical settlers, often protected by Israeli soldiers, while in the isolated Gaza, Hamas imposes ever stricter rules upon its people. Not surprisingly, the Holy Land has become aplenty with both mental and physical barriers, with walls, checkpoints, no-go and firing zones.

Will rage and fear, sorrow and despair eventually trump hope? Although glimmers of hope exist—new water technology, Tel Aviv’s culture of tolerance, more pressures from the international community—the author remains more pessimistic than ever, as reflected in the book’s title.

Hamilton Books

Pages: 418 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7618-6672-5 • Paperback • November 2015 • $59.99 • (£46.00)

978-0-7618-6673-2 • eBook • November 2015 • $57.00 • (£44.00)

Subjects: History / Middle East / Israel & Palestine, Political Science / World / Middle Eastern, Religion / Islam / General, Religion / Judaism / General, Religion / Religious Intolerance, Persecution & Conflict

Unholy Land

In Search of Hope in Israel/Palestine

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Traveling major highways and secondary roads, walking unpaved paths, the author recites contradictions of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, the Holy Land. Here, religion uneasily confronts politics and democracy, sublime nature undergoes militarization, and hospitality and empathy mix with brutality, hatred and violence.

Everything becomes security: not just borders and relations with the neighbors, but also water and archaeological evidence, demography and voting Arabs. Control of holy sites, perception of illegal immigrants, separate highway networks and built-up hilltops are all viewed through the prism of threat and security. Threats proliferate, be they real or imaginary, spontaneous or politically-driven. Whether in Jerusalem, the “city of the world”, or in small towns, tensions are palpable between Israel’s radical Jews and its Arab residents. Even within the Jewish community itself, increasingly nationalistic, animosities between ultra-Orthodox and more secular inhabitants are on the rise. Christians also feel under attack, as do moderate Palestinians from their Islamized brethren. In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian villagers confront radical settlers, often protected by Israeli soldiers, while in the isolated Gaza, Hamas imposes ever stricter rules upon its people. Not surprisingly, the Holy Land has become aplenty with both mental and physical barriers, with walls, checkpoints, no-go and firing zones.

Will rage and fear, sorrow and despair eventually trump hope? Although glimmers of hope exist—new water technology, Tel Aviv’s culture of tolerance, more pressures from the international community—the author remains more pessimistic than ever, as reflected in the book’s title.

Details

Hamilton Books

Pages: 418 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7618-6672-5 • Paperback • November 2015 • $59.99 • (£46.00)

978-0-7618-6673-2 • eBook • November 2015 • $57.00 • (£44.00)

Subjects: History / Middle East / Israel & Palestine, Political Science / World / Middle Eastern, Religion / Islam / General, Religion / Judaism / General, Religion / Religious Intolerance, Persecution & Conflict

Author

Born in Poland, Witt Raczka lives in Strasbourg, France, where he teaches European and Middle-Eastern affairs. Well-traveled in Eurasia, his previous book, Aux Confins de l’Europe de l’Est (Paris, 2009) dealt with Europe’s post-Communist eastern borderlands.

Table of Contents

Introduction
One: Galilee and Golan Heights
Two: Samaria, Northern Palestine
Three: On Both Sides of the Green Line
Four: The Jordan Valley
Five: Jerusalem: “Forever United”, Yet Divided
Six: In Southern Palestine and Judean Hills
Seven: Negev’s Promise, Gaza’s Despair
Eight: Onwards To Tel Aviv—A City Apart
Epilogue
Bibliography

Unholy Land

In Search of Hope in Israel/Palestine

Witt Raczka

Unholy Land

In Search of Hope in Israel/Palestine

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