This moving and riveting exploration of the divisions between Israelis and Palestinians, and within each community, traces Israel's controversial security barrier and reports on the personal effects of its being built. Travelling along the seam of the Israeli - Palestinian conflict, through the heart of the Holy Land, Kershner offers rich and insightful portraits of the people and places along the Wall's route and beyond. "The Barrier" makes concrete the psychological divisions that have deepened as disillusionment followed the failed peace process. Exploring the societies, personalities and psyches on both sides of the divide, she lays bare the tragedies and tough realities that first gave rise to the barrier, as well as the often bitter, ironic, even amusing consequences of its creation. Kershner deftly focuses on how peoples' lives are being profoundly changed, politically, socially, economically, and morally.