The Raja Shehadeh Archive

A multi-year, multi-disciplinary international project to preserve and publish Raja’s personal archive of diaries and other writings, including papers belonging to his father, the lawyer Aziz Shehadeh (1912-85), that together cover almost a hundred years of Palestinian society and history.

The physical archive is stored at the University of Edinburgh. Scans and other digital assets form part of the Digital Archive of the Middle East (DAME), based at the University of Exeter, in English and Arabic. Cataloguing of the entire archive is under way, and publication will follow.

The Raja Shehadeh Archive forms part of the inalienable cultural heritage of Palestine. Raja Shehadeh and his heirs retain copyright in all materials, as well as moral and intellectual property rights.

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UPDATE September 2026: 

Call for donations

My friends Mahmoud Muna at the Educational Bookshop in Jerusalem, and the writer Matthew Teller in Britain, are crowdfunding to support continuing work on the archive – essential tasks being done by individuals who are not supported by universities or institutions. Please click here to read the full story and to donate, if you can.

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For more details of the archive preservation project Phase 1 (2024–26), and proposals for completing Phases 2 and 3 (2027–30), click here to view briefing document.

للاطلاع على مزيد من التفاصيل حول المرحلة الأولى من مشروع حفظ الأرشيف (٢٠٢٤–٢٠٢٦) ومقترحات إنجاز المرحلتين الثانية والثالثة (٢٠٢٧–٢٠٣٠)، اضغط هنا للاطلاع على وثيقة المعلومات باللغة العربية.