Occupation Diaries

Raja Shehadeh is Palestine's leading writer. He is also a lawyer and the founder of the pioneering Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq. Shehadeh was a National Book Award finalist in 2023 and is the author of several acclaimed books published by Profile, including the Orwell Prize-winning Palestinian Walks. He lives in Ramallah.

Praise for Palestinian Walks: 'Few Palestinians have opened their minds and their hearts with such frankness The New York Times Shehadeh writes beautifully, his language infused with a lyrical, melancholic sense of loss. An important record of a land marked by conflict that is changing every day Sunday Telegraph Shehadeh is always engaging ... delivering what many activists neglect to mention: the odd, slightly absurd details that really touch people; things that appear off camera, away from news reports Independent on Sunday Towards any proper understanding of history there are many small paths. I strongly suggest you walk with him -- John Berger Palestinian Walks is a stoic account of a particular place, but one which has universal resonance. The judges felt it made landscape into the essence of politics, and political writing into an art -- John Seaton, chair of the Orwell Prize committee, 2008 Shehadeh describes howthe destruction of a beloved landscape mirrors the damage to Palestinian identity ... lyrical nature-writing with understated political passion Guardian Readers would do well to reckon with the painful particulars of Shehadeh's account, which is at once gentle and angry, resolute and realistic Nation This is a beautiful book and a sad one -- Anthony Lewis Palestinian Walks provides a rare historical insight into the tragic changes taking place in Palestine -- Jimmy Carter