Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian lawyer and the author of several acclaimed books. His latest, Where The Line Is Drawn: Crossing Boundaries in Occupied Palestine, is written through the prism of his close but problematic relationships with several Israelis. It is at once personal, political, angry, conciliatory and alive to the tensions and shared values of friendships in a divided land. He lives in Ramallah in the West Bank.

Your book features a long and sometimes troubled friendship with Henry, a Canadian Jew who lives in Israel. In some respects it symbolises the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and you are quite critical of Henry. What does he think of it?

Inevitably the symbolism is there but I hate it because I have a special relationship with Henry. He hasn’t read the book yet. I’m quite sure it will mean an extension and improvement in our relationship, although you never know with Henry. He knows about the book. He gave his permission to use our correspondence. I want to spend a whole day with him discussing the book.

What is it about the Palestine/Israel dispute that makes it so intractable?

I didn’t really want to write a political book, but of course you can’t avoid it – everything is political. Part of what I’m trying to do is break away and speak to young people who are discouraged from interacting by both sides, especially the Israelis. Some people say that the Arabs and Israeli Jews are enemies and were never meant to be otherwise, and something in me responds very strongly against this. When Arabs and Israeli Jews meet in London they often become the best of friends and find many things in common. I wanted to show how we can enhance each other.

You come from a secular leftist tradition. Do you feel alienated from Hamas and the militant religious voices?

Even Hamas is changing. Just today I was reading that Hamas has a new programme that is about to be published, which recognises the 1967 borders and says our fight is with the occupation, not with the Jews. They’re disconnecting themselves from the Muslim Brotherhood.

In the bigger picture of the Middle East, the religious extremists now seem much more worrying. Israelis are able to say that they live in a very tough neighbourhood and have to defend themselves aggressively…

I have always thought that the strength of Israel, what’s made it possible to survive and be attractive, was because of the rule of law, and its socialist aspects. These are diminishing. The other thing is that I believe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the core of the problems of the Middle East. And that it has given a very bad example to the rest of the groupings all around.

Both Israel and Palestine have a rich intellectual history. How much cross-border engagement goes on? There are people like David Grossman for example. Do you meet up with these writers?

We used to but not any more. Communication is so difficult across borders. I’m not the kind of writer who meets with other writers. I have my own projects. I don’t understand writers who have great interest in literary cafes.

Were you optimistic about the Arab spring?

Absolutely. I wrote about it in the book Occupation Diaries. I continue to be optimistic because once people feel that experience of liberation it’s not easily forgotten.

You write in English. How did that come about?

I liked English literature early on. When I started writing poetry I wrote in English. Then after 1967 I was very confused and I kept a diary in English. I also have very bad handwriting and I learned to type properly very early on and it was almost natural to type my diary in English. I’ve always liked the structure of the language. I always felt comfortable with English.

Which writers do you admire, and are there any particular Israeli writers you like to read?

I must say I haven’t read enough Israeli literature to make a choice. I like the precision and language of Ian McEwan. I like EM Forster. I like the way he was able to write about difficult subjects, India, its past and so on. I used to like a lot of James Joyce and DH Lawrence.



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