By Olivia Snaije
Two award-winning Palestinian authors serving life sentences in Israeli prisons were released on October 13 as part of the exchange for Israeli captives held in Gaza. Both authors, students at the time, were imprisoned in their early twenties. They were first published in Arabic by the Lebanese Dar Al Adab.
Nasser Abu Srour was arrested in 1993, accused of being an accomplice to the murder of an Israeli intelligence officer. Other Press published his memoir Tale of a Wall, Reflections on the Meaning of Hope and Freedom translated by Luke Leafgren in 2024. Tale of a Wall was longlisted for the National Book Award and has been translated into numerous languages including French, Spanish, and Italian. The French translation by Stéphanie Dujols and published by Gallimard as Je Suis ma Liberté, is shortlisted for the 2025 Prix de la littérature arabe as well as for several translation prizes.
Basim Khandaqji, arrested in 2004 and accused of participating in an attack claimed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2024 for his novel, A Mask, the Color of the Sky. It was published in English by Europa and translated by Addie Leak. It has also been translated into numerous languages.
International human rights observers have criticized the arrests and trials of both Abu Srour and Khandaqji.
Both men have been forced into exile along with 152 other Palestinians who were condemned to life imprisonment and are currently in Egypt. Their Lebanese publisher, Rana Idriss, expects to travel to Egypt imminently to visit them.
Olivia Snaije (oliviasnaije.com) is a journalist and editor based in Paris. She translated Lamia Ziadé’s Bye Bye Babylon (Jonathan Cape), and has written several books on Paris published by Dorling Kindersley and Flammarion. Editions Textuel (Paris) and Saqi Books (London) published Keep Your Eye on the Wall: Palestinian Landscapes, which she co-edited with Mitch Albert.