Occupier's law: Israel and the West Bank

Raja Shehadeh

Institute for Palestine StudiesHI ME

Going Home: A Walk through Fifty Years of Occupation

History

Middle East

Blackstone Publishing

"Few Palestinians have opened their minds and hearts with such frankness." &#8212New York Times "Shehadeh writes beautifully, his language infused with a lyrical, melancholic sense of loss." &#8212Sunday TelegraphIndependent Award-winning author Raja Shehadeh here explores the politics of language and the language of politics in the Israeli-Palestine conflict, reflecting on the walls they create-legal and cultural-that confine today's Palestinians just as much as the physical borders, checkpoints and the so-called "Separation Barrier."The peace process has been ground to a halt by twists of language and linguistic chicanery that have degraded the word "peace" itself. Today, in relation to the Middle East, no one knows what the word even means. As one example of many available, Israel has argued that the omission of the word "the" in one of the UN Security Council's resolutions means it is not mandated to withdraw from all the territories it occupied in 1967.Language of War, Language of Peace is another fascinating investigation by one of Palestine's most important and fluent writers.

Language of War, Language of Peace

OR Books

Seeking Palestine: New Palestinian Writing on Exile and Home

Where the Line is Drawn: Crossing Boundaries in Occupied Palestine

Profile Books

We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Profile Books, Ltd.

We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I

Raja Shehadeh is the most celebrated Palestinian writer working today. To his surprise, when researching his family history, he discovered a great uncle who had also been a writer entangled with the authorities, and who, like Raja, had dedicated his life to the freedom of the Palestinian people. Najib was a journalist and romantic living in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire. When he voiced his opposition to Ottoman participation in the First World War, a death sentence was put on his head. So he fled, living on the run and off the land for nearly three years. The quest for Najib, the details of his life, and the route of his great escape consumed Raja for two years. As he traces Najib's footsteps, he discovers that today it would be impossible to flee the cage that Palestine has become. "A Rift in Time" is a family memoir, but it is also a reflection on how Palestine - in particular the disputed Jordan Rift Valley - has been transformed. Most of Palestine's history and that of its people is buried deep in the ground: whole villages have disappeared and names have been erased from the map. Yet by seeing the bigger picture of the landscape and the unending struggle for freedom as Raja does, it is still possible to look towards a better future, free from Israeli or Ottoman oppression.

Rift in Time

Battered by repeated suicide bombs, the Israeli army invaded Palestine in April 2002 and held many of the principal towns, including Ramallah under siege.  A tank stood at the end of Raja Shehadeh's road; there were Israeli soldiers on the roof tops of the neighbouring block of flats; and four soldiers took over his brother's flat, while his children tried to carry on playing with their game boys.  This is an account of what it is like to be under siege: the terror, the frustrations, the humiliations and the rage.  How can you pass your time when you are a prisoner in your own home?  What do you do when you cannot cross the neighbourhood to help your sick mother?  What is it really like to be under occupation?In extraordinarily clear prose, writer and activist, Raja Shehadeh kept a diary of occupation.  It is a completely absorbing, profoundly moving and politically important document.

When the Bulbul Stopped Singing : A Diary of Ramallah Under Siege

<p>The quest for his great-uncle Najib Nassar, an Ottoman journalist - the details of his life, and the route of his great escape from occupied Palestine - consumed award-winning writer Raja Shehadeh for two years. As he traces Najib's footsteps, he discovers that today it would be impossible to flee the cage that Palestine has become. A Rift in Time is a family memoir written in luminescent prose, but it is also a reflection on how Palestine - in particular the disputed Jordan Rift Valley - has been transformed. Most of Palestine's history and that of its people is buried deep in the ground: whole villages have disappeared and names have been erased from the map. Yet by seeing the bigger picture of the landscape and the unending struggle for freedom as Shehadeh does, it is still possible to look towards a better future, free from Israeli or Ottoman oppression.</p>

A Rift in Time: Travels with My Ottoman Uncle

Travel

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Books by Raja Shehadeh