We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I

Starred review from January 9, 2023
Palestinian attorney and human rights activist Shehadeh (Where the Line Is Drawn) movingly blends the personal and political in this heartfelt take on his complex relationship with his lawyer father, Aziz. The latter, born in 1912, was a fearless advocate for his clients, including the men who assassinated Jordan’s King Abdullah in 1951, and an early supporter of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict despite having fled his home in Jaffa after the modern Jewish state was declared. He was murdered in 1985 by a former client, a crime for which Shehadeh still seeks answers. As Shehadeh writes, their interactions were often fraught with a hostility Shehadeh attributes to his father’s unpopular political positions, and his sense of regret after his father’s murder, over missed chances at healing their relationship is palpably and eloquently conveyed: “Not being aware of the extent and the sheer number of battles he had fought during his life,” Shehadeh writes, “I could not understand the measure of his anger, disappointment, and unhappiness.” This poignant memoir will resonate with many, whatever their positions on the political conflict at its center. George Lucas, InkWell Management.