The Tale of a Wall: Reflections on the Meaning of Hope and Freedom

This passionate autobiography--at once history lesson, prison memoir, metaphysical inquiry, love story, and cry for justice--provides insights into the Israeli occupation and the struggle of the Palestinian people.

One of more than 5,000 Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons, Nasser Abu Srour serves a life sentence with no possibility of parole. From the Nakba to the disastrous consequences of the Oslo Accords, he explains with great acumen how the Intifada of the Stones (1987-1993) ultimately provided the only option for young Palestinians in refugee camps to infuse meaning into their lives, especially as they faced a constant threat of humiliation and manipulation by Israeli intelligence. This uprising leads to Abu Srour's incarceration, after he was forced to confess, under torture, to the killing of a Shin Bet officer who recruited his cousin as an informant.
Within his cell, Abu Srour turns the Wall that has deprived him of his freedom into his interlocutor and the source of stability that allows him to survive a chaotic, hopeless existence. This incredible literary device--and survival strategy--becomes particularly heartbreaking when falling in love causes Abu Srour to lose his grip on the Wall. Only by writing the story of his imprisonment and the story of his love does Abu Srour find his way back. In doing so, he has created a work of art that transcends the pain he endures while shining a glaring light on the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian situation.

Author: Nasser Abu Srour
Publisher: Other Press (NY)
Published: 04/30/2024
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
ISBN: 9781635423877

About the Author
Nasser Abu Srour was arrested in 1993, accused of being an accomplice to the murder of an Israeli intelligence officer, and sentenced to life in prison. While incarcerated, Abu Srour completed the final semester of a bachelor's degree in English from Bethlehem University, and obtained a master's degree in political science from Al-Quds University. The Tale of a Wall is his first book to appear in English, and translations are forthcoming from Gallimard, Feltrinelli, and Galaxia Gutenberg, among others.

Luke Leafgren is an Assistant Dean of Harvard College. He has translated seven novels from Arabic, including Muhsin Al-Ramli's The President's Gardens, for which he received the 2018 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation.