Raja Shehadeh transfers 5-million-word Palestinian diary archive to Edinburgh University

August 31, 2026 at 01:03 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Palestinian author Raja Shehadeh transferred his personal diaries, spanning nearly 60 years and more than 5 million words, to the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Research Collections on Thursday. The archive, begun in 1967 weeks before the Six-Day War, was moved from the occupied West Bank after Israel's increased incursions and the war on Gaza convinced Shehadeh it was under threat. The transfer marks the first time the collection has been housed outside Palestine.

Key Facts

Raja Shehadeh began his first dated diary entry on May 11, 1967, at age 15, while a pupil at the Quaker school in Ramallah.
The archive contains more than 5 million words across tens of thousands of pages, documenting nearly 60 years of Palestinian history.
Shehadeh decided to move the archive in late 2023, citing Israel's increased incursions into the occupied West Bank and the war on Gaza as threats to its safety.
The diaries were officially transferred to the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Research Collections on Thursday.

The Archive

Shehadeh's first entry, written in English, described his sadness at the banishment of bees from neighbouring gardens and proposed a treaty with them. The entry came weeks before the Six-Day War, in which Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan respectively. Shehadeh, now 75, has authored some 20 books and is considered a major figure in Palestinian literature. The collection spans from 1967 to the present, covering the end of Jordanian rule in the West Bank and subsequent events.

Transfer Decision

In late 2023, Shehadeh decided to uproot the archive from the West Bank, convinced it was under threat of destruction. He cited Israel's increased incursions into the occupied West Bank and the genocidal war on Gaza as reasons for the move. Shehadeh expressed relief at the archive's safe delivery, saying he visited it in Edinburgh last week.