Kathmandu— On May 11, 1967, a young Palestinian teenager named Raja Shehadeh began writing his first dated diary entry. Now, at the age of 75 and with over five million words documented across tens of thousands of pages, Shehadeh's personal journals are being officially transferred to the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Research Collections on Thursday. This move comes amid concerns about the safety of his archive due to increased Israeli incursions into the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

The Beginnings of a Lifelong Diary

Shehadeh, who attended a Quaker school in Ramallah when he started diarising, realized that he was living through a period of significant change. “I also realised it was a very confusing period, and that writing about it helped me understand better what was happening,” said Shehadeh. His first entry came just weeks before the Six-Day War, which saw Israel capture the West Bank from Jordanian control.

Archival Challenges and Solutions

The transfer of Shehadeh’s substantial collection required collaboration between the University of Edinburgh, the Digital Archive of the Middle East at Exeter, and a Palestinian team from Jerusalem’s Educational Bookshop. Mahmoud Muna, proprietor of the Educational Bookshop, led the digitisation efforts despite facing detention by Israeli police in early 2025. Each batch of documents was carefully packaged and shipped to Scotland using standard postal services.

Symbolic Act of Resistance

Shehadeh views depositing his archives at Edinburgh University as an “act of resistance.” The university’s connection to Lord Balfour, who issued the controversial Balfour Declaration in 1917, adds a layer of symbolic significance. Kholoud Al-Ajarma, deputy director of Edinburgh University's Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam, noted that given the current dangers in Palestine, it is crucial to safeguard these materials.

The archive will be made available as an open-access resource for researchers and students, with large samples published online by the University of Exeter.

(With inputs from Al Jazeera)

Originally published on abcnews.com.np.