HISTORY

Going Home: A Walk Through Fifty Years of Occupation

by Raja Shehadeh
New Pr. Mar. 2020. 224p. ISBN 9781620975770. $24.99. HIST
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Orwell Prize winner Shehadeh (Palestinian Walks), founder of the human rights organization Al-Haq, here recounts spending the 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of Ramallah walking through the city, reflecting and meditating on his life. He describes his memories of the lives of his neighbors, and through those lives tracks the history of his town from the Ottoman Empire through the British mandate and Jordanian rule down to the ongoing occupation. Tinged with a sense of melancholy for his own childhood, and feelings of a futile career both as a lawyer and human rights advocate, and sadness over his fraught relationship with his father, Shehadeh nonetheless finds inspiration in the vibrant life of his overdeveloped city and the endurance of its land and people.
VERDICT This personal account nicely blends memoir and history to offer a balanced look at life in the West Bank. It is sure to pique the interest of readers seeking to explore just resolutions to the ongoing unrest in the region.
Reviewed by Joel Neuberg, Santa Rosa Junior Coll. Lib., CA , Jan 24, 2020
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