The story of Palestine's stonemasons and the building of Israel

"They demolish our houses while we build theirs." This is how a Palestinian stonemason, in line at a checkpoint outside a Jerusalem suburb, described his life to Andrew Ross. Palestinian "stone men", utilizing some of the best quality dolomitic limestone deposits in the world and drawing on generations of artisanal knowledge, have built almost every state in the Middle East except their own. Today the business of quarrying, cutting, fabrication, and dressing is Palestine's largest employer and generator of revenue, supplying the construction industry in Israel, along with other Middle East countries and even more overseas.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews in Palestine and Israel, Ross's engrossing, surprising, and gracefully written story of this fascinating, ancient trade shows how the stones of Palestine, and Palestinian labor, have been used to build out the state of Israel-in the process, constructing "facts on the ground"--even while the industry is central to Palestinians' own efforts to erect bulwarks against the Occupation. For decades, the hands that built Israel's houses, schools, offices, bridges, and even its separation barriers have been Palestinian. Looking at the Palestine-Israel conflict in a new light, this book asks how this record of achievement and labor can be recognized.

"Ross is a raconteur with delicious--and telling--anecdotes" - The New York Times Book Review

"Scrupulous ... Andrew Ross has left a portentous mark on what will be, if it happens, a profound debate for the civil rights of indigenous Palestinians in a single-state, a principal share Palestinians have already built themselves." - Palestine Chronicle

"Stone Men ... consistently provides insights into the troubled and troubling relationships between Israelis and Palestinians that are hard to come by elsewhere." - Guardian

"Ross moves continuously and seamlessly between the broad picture and the intimate individual experience, elucidating crucial points as he does so." - Morning Star

"A moving story of craft, material and culture." - Financial Times

"Stone Men provides an in-depth assessment of the coercive and exploitative dynamics which have the potential to open new ways of looking at Palestinian rights to land and territory." - The New Arab

"Combines quality journalism with a solid critique of what's been laid down ever since Zionism met capitalism." - Middle East Monitor

"A unique record of the voices of the Palestinian workers who - quite literally - built Israel ... path-breaking" - Race & Class