Raja Shehadeh (born 1951) is a
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
lawyer, human rights activist and
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
.
He co-founded the award-winning Palestinian human rights organization
Al-Haq
Al-Haq () is an independent Palestinian human rights organization based in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank. Founded in 1979, Al-Haq monitors and documents human rights violations committed by parties to the Israeli–Palestinian confli ...
in 1979.
In 2008, he won the
Orwell Prize
The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...
, Britain's pre-eminent award for political writing, for his book ''Palestinian Walks.''
Early life
Raja Shehadeh was born into a prominent
Palestinian Christian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
family. His grandfather, Saleem, was a judge in the courts of the
British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to:
* Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan.
* Mandatory P ...
. His great-great-uncle, the journalist
Najib Nassar Najib Nassar (January 1, 1865 – December 28, 1947) was a Palestinians, Palestinian journalist perhaps best known as the owner-editor of, and frequent contributor to, the Palestinian weekly newspaper ''Al-Karmil (newspaper), Al-Karmil.'' Historian ...
, founded the
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
-based newspaper ''
Al-Karmil'' in the last years of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, before
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. His father, Aziz, was one of the first Palestinians to publicly support a
two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict envisions an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River. The boundary between the two states is still subject to dispute and negotia ...
to the
Arab-Israeli conflict
The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...
.
His family fled from
Jaffa to Ramallah in 1948.
In 1951 Raja was born in
Ramallah,
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
where he grew up. He attended
Birzeit College for two years before studying English literature in the
American University of Beirut. After graduating from AUB Raja studied at the
College of Law
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, ...
in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
Following his education Shehadeh returned to Ramallah and went into legal practice with his father.
Legal and literary career
in 1979 Shehadeh co-founded the
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
organization
Al-Haq
Al-Haq () is an independent Palestinian human rights organization based in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank. Founded in 1979, Al-Haq monitors and documents human rights violations committed by parties to the Israeli–Palestinian confli ...
,
which is the Palestinian affiliate of the
International Commission of Jurists.
He has written several books on
international law
International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
, human rights and the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
. Al-Haq was one of the first human rights organizations in the Arab world. It was a co-recipients of the
Carter-Menil Human Rights Prize in 1989,
and of the
Geuzenpenning
The Geuzenpenning ('Beggar Medal') is a Dutch award given to persons or organizations who have fought for democracy and against dictatorship, racism and discrimination. It has been awarded annually since 1987 in the city of Vlaardingen.
The Geuzen ...
in 2009.
In addition to his legal work Shehadeh has written a number of books about Palestine through the lens of his life. He tells the story of his early life and his relationship with his father in ''Strangers in the House''. This memoir was described by ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' as "distinctive and truly impressive". In 2008, he won the
Orwell Prize
The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...
, Britain's pre-eminent award for political writing, for his book
''Palestinian Walks.''
In July 2018, his biographical ''Where the Line is Drawn: Crossing Boundaries in Occupied Palestine'' was chosen for
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's
Book of the Week
''Book of the Week'' is a BBC Radio 4 series that is broadcast daily on week days. Each week, extracts from the selected book, usually a non-fiction work, are read over five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning (9:45a ...
, and was narrated by actor
Peter Polycarpou
Peter Polycarpou is an English-Cypriot actor, best known for playing Chris Theodopolopodous in the television comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' and Louis Charalambos in ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies''.
Early life
Polycarpou w ...
.
In 2016, Shehadeh took part in a project, initiated by the "
Breaking the Silence" organization, to write an article for a book on the
Israeli occupation
Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...
, to mark the 50th anniversary of the
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...
. The book was edited by
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon ( ;
born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...
and
Ayelet Waldman
Ayelet Waldman ( he, איילת ולדמן, born December 11, 1964) is an Israeli-American novelist and essayist. She has written seven mystery novels in the series ''The Mommy-Track Mysteries'' and four other novels. She has also written autobio ...
, and was published under the title "Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation", in June 2017.
London Review of Books editor Adam Shatz cited Shehadeh as one of two people who have provided a formative influence of his understanding of the Middle East conflict, writing that 'Anguished and somewhat fragile, he is a man who, in spite of his understandable bitterness, has continued to dream of a future beyond the occupation, a kind of neo-Ottoman federation where Arabs and Jews would live as equals.'
[Adam Shatz]
'Writers or Missionaries? A reporter’s journey involves writing with a sense of history and without false consolation,'
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
July 15, 2014.
Bibliography
* The Third Way. A Journal of Life in the West Bank. Quartet Books Ltd., 1982.
*
*
When the Bulbul Stopped Singing' (2003)
*''Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape'' (2007, 2nd edition published as
' (2008)
*
A Rift In Time: Travels With My Ottoman Uncle' (2010)
*
Occupation Diaries' (2012)
*
' (2017)
*
' (2015)
*
' (2017)
* Going Home: A Walk Through Fifty Years of Occupation. Profile Books., 2019
Book reviews
Critical studies and reviews of Shehadeh's work
;Strangers in the house
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shehadeh, Raja
1951 births
Living people
The New York Review of Books people
Palestinian human rights activists
Palestinian journalists
20th-century Palestinian lawyers
Palestinian non-fiction writers
People from Ramallah
21st-century Palestinian lawyers