When the state of Israel was formed in 1948, it precipitated the Nakba or 'disaster': the displacement of the Palestine nation, creating fracture-lines which continue to erupt in violent and tragic ways today. In the years that followed, while the Berlin Wall crumbled and South Africa abolished apartheid, the Israeli government rejected every opportunity for reconciliation with Palestine.

But Raja Shehadeh, a human rights lawyer and Palestine's greatest living writer, suggests that this does not mean the two nations cannot work together as partners on the road to peace, not genocide. In graceful, devastatingly observed prose, this is a fresh perspective in a time of great need. 'Powerful' New Statesman'A buoy in the sea of bleakness' Rachel Kushner, author of Creation Lake'Shehadeh is a great inquiring spirit with a tone that is vivid, ironic, melancholy and wise' Colm Toibin, author of The Magician