Palestinian writer secretly archives diaries in Scotland
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Raja Shehadeh, a leading Palestinian writer and lawyer, moved his life’s work, decades of diaries documenting Palestinian life under Israeli occupation, from his home in Ramallah to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Shehadeh, 75, began writing the diaries in 1967, recording his experiences as a lawyer, meetings with leaders, and observations of the changing West Bank landscape.
He feared Israeli military operations would destroy the archives, recalling past instances of Palestinians’ historical documents being destroyed during conflicts in 1948, 1982, and 2002. Over two years, Shehadeh and collaborators digitized the diaries and sent the pages to Scotland through regular mail to avoid detection. The University of Exeter in England has since published thousands of pages online.
Shehadeh’s diaries detail the impact of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian life, including the expansion of settlements and the displacement of communities. He also used the diaries to process his anger over past peace accords and to document his 40-year investigation into the 1985 killing of his father, a prominent lawyer, ultimately concluding that Israeli authorities shielded a key suspect due to his status as a collaborator.
Shehadeh hopes the diaries will offer a lasting record of Palestinian experiences and contribute to a greater understanding of the region’s history.
