One Palestinian Writer’s Lifelong Quest to Get Israelis to See Him | The Interview

At the end of another year of strife and suffering, with a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in place but a plan for what’s next for Gaza still unclear, “The Interview” host David Marchese thought it would be useful to speak with Raja Shehadeh, a writer, lawyer and human rights activist. Shehadeh is 74 and has spent most of his life living in Ramallah, a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Shehadeh’s 2007 book, “Palestinian Walks: Forays Into a Vanishing Landscape,” won Britain’s Orwell Prize for political writing. In the United States, his book, “We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I,” was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award. He’s also a co-founder of Al-Haq, a human rights organization — recently hit with sanctions by the United States government — that has documented abuses against Palestinians in the occupied territories for over 45 years.

Shehadeh believes that peace remains possible. But he also maintains that for peace to have any chance of prevailing, there’s so much — the stories told about the region, even the basic facts — that needs to be fundamentally reconsidered.

“The Interview” features conversations with the world’s most fascinating people. Each week, co-hosts David Marchese and Lulu Garcia-Navarro talk to compelling, influential figures in culture, politics, business, sports and beyond — illuminating who they are, why they do what they do and how they impact the rest of us.

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