Occupation

Volume 94 Number 885 Spring 2012Interview withRaja Shehadeh*Palestinian lawyer and writer.For this thematic edition on occupation, the International Review of the Red Crossconsidered it crucial to complement the academic and military perspectives reflectedin this issue with a viewpoint of someone who has lived and practised law in anoccupied territory. The Review chose to interview Raja Shehadeh, a Palestinianlawyer, writer, and human rights activist who lives in Ramallah. In 1979 he cofoundedAl-Haq, an independent Palestinian non-governmental human rightsorganization based in Ramallah, which is an affiliate of the InternationalCommission of Jurists in Geneva. He worked with Al-Haq as co-director until 1991,when he left the organization to pursue a literary career.Raja Shehadeh is the author of several books on international law, humanitarianlaw, and the Middle East, such as The West Bank and the Rule of Law (1980),Occupier’s Law: Israel and the West Bank (1985 and 1988), and From Occupation toInterim Accords: Israel and the Palestinian Territories (1997). He was awarded theOrwell Prize in 2008 for his book Palestinian Walks: Notes on a VanishingLandscape. His most recent book is Occupation Diaries.In this interview, Raja Shehadeh gives his views on the relevance of occupation lawtoday, as well as his personal reflections on Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and thework of international organizations such as the International Committee of the RedCross (ICRC).* This interview was conducted on 13 March 2012 in Ramallah by Vincent Bernard, Editor-in-Chief of theInternational Review of the Red Cross, Michael Siegrist, Editorial Assistant, and Anton Camen, LegalAdviser of the ICRC in Israel and the occupied territories.doi:10.1017/S1816383112000604 13