Basim Khandaqji Wins International Prize for Arabic Literature After 20 Years in Israeli Prison

Abu Dhabi: Palestinian writer Basim Khandaqji, who has been imprisoned by Israel for two decades, has been awarded the International Prize for Arabic Literature. The award was given to the novel ‘A Mask, The Color of the Sky’. The jury believed that the novel showed the bitter reality of racism, genocide, displacement and broken family ties.

Rana Idris, owner of Dar Al Adab, the novel’s publisher, accepted the award on behalf of Khandaqji. The news was announced at a ceremony held in Abu Dhabi. Khandaqji’s novel A Mask, The Color of the Sky is based on a blue identification card that Noor, an archaeologist living in a refugee camp in Ramallah, receives from an Israeli coat pocket.

Noor uses this identity card to enter excavation sites in the West Bank, pretending to be an Israeli citizen. The novel also talks about the psychological tensions that Noor goes through in his daily life as an Israeli citizen and as a Palestinian citizen in the West Bank. 133 books competed for the Arabic Literature Prize. Basim Khandaqji was born in 1983 in Nablus, Palestine. She studied Journalism and Media at Al-Najah National University, Nablus. He also wrote short stories while studying. 20 years ago, 21-year-old Khandakhji was captured by the Israeli army.