First published 2024
Raja Shehadeh opens his family history by confronting a painful truth. He never understood his father while Aziz was alive. Aziz Shehadeh spent decades fighting occupying powers as a lawyer and activist. He resisted British rule, then Jordanian control, then Israeli occupation of Palestine. His son Raja watched this defiance but failed to grasp its significance. Meanwhile, Aziz dismissed Raja's own human rights work as ineffective. The two men lived parallel lives of resistance without connecting. Their relationship remained strained by mutual incomprehension and stubborn pride. In 1985, assassins killed Aziz, ending any chance for reconciliation. Raja must now piece together who his father really was through fragments of memory and political history. This memoir traces how violence shaped both their lives and how death finally opened Raja's eyes to his father's courage. The story reveals how Palestinian families carry the weight of occupation across generations.
Genres: historical-fiction, autobiography, memoir, non-fiction, biography-memoir, middle-east, activism, family-drama
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, generational-conflict, parallel-lives
Setting: Palestine
Period: 20th-century
160 pages · Paperback · Other Press
Content warnings: death, violence