Palestinian writer Raja Shehadeh executed a discreet, two-year operation to move his decades-long personal archives and diaries from the West Bank to Scotland, fearing destruction during Israeli military operations. According to NPR, the 75-year-old author’s collection is now housed at the University of Edinburgh, while the University of Exeter has published thousands of pages online.
Saving Decades of Palestinian History From Ramallah
Beginning in May 1967 at the onset of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Shehadeh documented decades of local life. As an award-winning author of more than 20 books, a human rights lawyer, and a former legal advisor to Palestinians during peace talks, his papers captured meetings with world leaders and front-row historical views. However, keeping the materials in his Ramallah garage left them vulnerable. Shehadeh noted that past conflicts—such as the 1948 Nakba, the 1982 removal of papers from the Palestine Research Center in Beirut, and the 2002 re-invasion of Ramallah—saw extensive destruction of private Palestinian papers. The 2023 Gaza war heightened his fears that soldiers might enter his home and burn or scatter the texts. To protect them, three people worked day and night to digitize the documents, and Shehadeh gradually mailed the papers out through ordinary post.
Reflections on Daily Discipline and the 2002 Intifada
Reflecting on his writing habits, Shehadeh told NPR that he began journaling at age 15 to record a historic period. During the 2002 Israeli invasion of Ramallah amid the Palestinian Intifada, his entries described relentless bombing, house arrest, and military tanks blocking streets near his office. His writings also criticized satellite television coverage for portraying Palestinian suffering like a soap opera and faulted Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for dramatizing events.
Frustrations with Leadership and Settlement Expansion
Shehadeh’s diaries recorded intense anger during the 1990s peace process. Writing by hand in places like the Grand Hotel in Washington, D.C., while acting as legal counsel, he criticized Palestinian leaders for signing peace accords that failed to halt Israeli settlement expansion. He noted that venting his frustrations exclusively in his private journals allowed him to continue living in Palestine without facing professional or political repercussions.
Investigating the 1985 Killing of Aziz Shehadeh
The archive also preserves 40 years of records regarding the 1985 killing of Shehadeh’s father, prominent lawyer Aziz Shehadeh. After obtaining Israeli police investigation files in 2025, Shehadeh found that authorities never investigated the main suspect—a prisoner who had sent a threatening letter over a land dispute. Shehadeh stated his strong suspicion that the man was protected as an Israeli collaborator, adding that reviewing the files provided him with a sense of closure.
The Concept of Sumud and Future Legacy
Throughout his decades of recording geographical changes, hill walks, and landscape transformations in the West Bank, Shehadeh maintained that the primary resistance to Israeli pressure was sumud—the Arabic term for steadfastness. By staying put, building institutions, and creating work, Palestinians could assert their existence. Regarding his archives, Shehadeh stated he cares less about personal legacy and more about ensuring people understand how historical developments unfolded.
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