Originally published on the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War, culminating in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Pappé offers a comprehensive exploration of one of the world's longest and most tragic conflicts, and an incisive and moving portrait of everyday life in the occupied territories. Using newly declassified footage, it analyzes the motivations and strategies of generals and politicians, and the decision-making process itself, which laid the foundations for the occupation. Based on an analysis of the legal and bureaucratic infrastructure implemented to control the Palestinian population, of the security mechanisms that vigorously implemented this control, Pappé paints the picture of what is for all the purposes the largest "open-air" prison in the world.

Through extensive documentation, archives of different NGOs and testimonies, this research on the "bureaucracy of evil" explores the haunting effects of occupation, systematic abuse of human and civic rights, Israel Army barricades, mass arrests, home searches and forced population transfer, settlers and the infamous wall that is rapidly turning the Israeli Army into an open prison.