The Wall Between - by Raja Khouri & Jeffrey Wilkinson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A groundbreaking book that offers concrete ways for Jews and Palestinians to speak (and listen) differently to each other.

The Wall Between is a book about the wall that exists between Jewish and Palestinian communities in the Diaspora, where distrust, enmity, and hate are common currencies.

At the time when the first edition was published on October 3, 2023, none of us imagined the tsunami of events that would be unleashed four days later. No one speculated that the highly-polarized and polarizing, Israel-Palestine discourse, was about to become even more poisoned and poisonous. And no one in our society appeared to be immune: college campuses, school boards, workplaces, places of worship, family dinner tables, among friends.

The wall that was up before October 7, 2023, is now deeper, bigger and wider. For many diaspora Jews and their supporters, the need for Israel and for defending it has become greater than ever after the atrocities of October 7. For many diaspora Palestinians and their supporters, the need to expose and end the decades-long oppression and dispossession of Palestinians has become greater than ever after the genocidal destruction of Gaza.

This new edition of The Wall Between explores the many shifts in narratives, allegiances, and political priorities that have taken place in Western societies. The authors explain the significance of heightened awareness of the Palestinian narrative they experienced while traveling across North America; the upsides and downsides of the adoption of the Palestinian cause by the left; how Jewish communities have struggled holding together their Judaism and Zionism, and how many young Jews have coalesced around the cause of justice for Palestinians in a way we had not seen before.

The Wall Between encourages all of us who care about Israelis and Palestinians to resist retreating further into their tribal silos, but rather to come

out from "behind the wall" and co-resist together in a new direction, guided by the shared values of justice, equal rights and dignity for all.

Review Quotes

"Can't wait for the conversations this book will generate!"----The Reverend Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, The Moderator, the United Church of Canada

"If you are serious about building empathy and understanding between Jews and Palestinians in the diaspora, this book by Khouri and Wilkinson must be your first step on that journey. It captures the really tough core dynamics and constraints anchored in past and present issues of identity, vulnerability, and trauma; and it suggests mutual steps forward to overcome them, in a manner that is at once pioneering, courageous, vital, and a blessing to all concerned who dare to set out on this path."----Rami Khouri, co-director of Global Engagement at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and non-resident senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School

"Khouri and Wilkinson courageously treat the difficult conflict of narratives and identities simultaneously, as one messy story rather than as two competing incomplete ones. It is essential reading for anyone concerned about the conflict, about Zionism, antisemitism, and the Nakba."----Kenneth S. Stern, Director, Bard Center for the Study of Hate and author of The Conflict over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate

"That this book even exists is remarkable. It's extraordinarily difficult for a Palestinian and a Jew to write a book that fairly conveys the dominant mood in both communities about Palestine-Israel. But this book not only exists--it's wise, engaging and deeply humane. It will prove an essential text in bringing diaspora Jews and Palestinians together in the justice movement that this moment demands."----Peter Beinart, author of The Crisis of Zionism

About the Author

Raja G. Khouri is CEO of Khouri Conversations, a human rights and inclusion consultant, the founding president of the Canadian Arab Institute, board member at Project Rozana (Canada), and a former 10-year commissioner with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. He is Canada Committee member of Human Rights Watch, and co-founder of the Canadian Arab/Jewish Leadership Dialogue Group.

Jeffrey J. Wilkinson, PhD, is an American Jew who lives in Canada. He holds a doctorate in Education from the University of Toronto and works actively in the Jewish community and beyond on issues relating to trauma and the Israel/Palestine struggle. Jeff's partnership with Raja, borne out of deep listening and learning together, has become central to his work.