Palestinian Walks
Palestine

Palestinian Walks

by Raja Shehadeh

Nature & Landscape Non-Fiction Memoir 2008

Summary

Palestinian Walks is a lyrical memoir in which Palestinian lawyer and writer Raja Shehadeh recounts years of walking through the hills and valleys of the West Bank. Through six walks taken over several decades, Shehadeh explores a landscape he has known since childhood, documenting its natural beauty, ancient paths, wildflowers, and rocky hillsides. As he returns to familiar places, he witnesses how expanding settlements, roads, and political restrictions transform the countryside and limit access to land that once felt open and familiar. Combining personal reflection, nature writing, and historical observation, Shehadeh examines the relationship between landscape, memory, and belonging. His walks become both a way of reconnecting with the natural world and a means of understanding the changes reshaping Palestinian life. The book offers an intimate portrait of a threatened environment, revealing how the loss of familiar places can also mean the erosion of cultural memory, personal freedom, and a sense of home.

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Country
Palestine
Asia
About the author
Raja Shehadeh
Raja Shehadeh

Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian lawyer, writer, and human rights activist born in Ramallah in 1951. He is the founder of Al-Haq, one of the first human rights organizations established in the Arab world, and has spent decades documenting the legal and social consequences of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Shehadeh is best known for his reflective nonfiction, which combines personal memoir, landscape writing, and political observation to explore Palestinian identity, displacement, and the relationship between people and their land. His acclaimed book Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape (2007) recounts his walks through the hills surrounding Ramallah, examining how settlement expansion and political change have transformed the Palestinian landscape. The book won the Orwell Prize in 2008. Other notable works include Strangers in the House (2002), a family memoir, and Going Home (2019). Through precise, contemplative prose, Shehadeh explores the meaning of home, the erosion of cultural landscapes, and the persistence of everyday life under occupation.

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Details
Published
2008
Author
Raja Shehadeh