Palestinian jailed for assisting in deadly 2004 suicide bombing wins top book prize
Convicted of helping terrorist in Tel Aviv market attack that killed 3 in Second Intifada, Basim Khandaqji gets 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for novel written in custody
Palestinian writer Basim Khandaqji, jailed 20 years ago for assisting the suicide bomber in a deadly 2004 attack in Tel Aviv, was on Sunday awarded a prestigious prize for Arabic fiction for his novel “A Mask, the Color of the Sky.”
The award of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction was announced at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
The prize was accepted on Khandaqji’s behalf by Rana Idriss, owner of Dar al-Adab, the book’s Lebanon-based publisher.
A member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group, according to Israeli authorities, Khandaqji was born in the West Bank city of Nablus in 1983, and wrote short stories until he was convicted and jailed in 2004 on charges relating to the deadly attack at the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv.
According to an official Israeli statement at the time, Khandaqji allegedly used a journalist identification card he had obtained during his studies at A-Najah University in Nablus, to help the suicide bomber enter Israel from the West Bank.
He completed his university education via the internet from inside jail, where he is serving three life sentences.
#Palestinian prisoner Basim Khandaqji in #Israel wins International Prize for #Arabic Fiction for his novel ‘A Mask, the Color of the Sky.’ @Arabic_Fiction https://t.co/4ggA6UatAK pic.twitter.com/zVVxhKW6bJ
— Arab News (@arabnews) April 29, 2024
The mask in the novel’s title refers to the blue identity card that Nur, an archaeologist living in Ramallah, finds in the pocket of an old coat belonging to an Israeli man.
Khandaqji’s book was chosen from 133 works submitted to the competition.
Nabil Suleiman, who chaired the jury, said the novel “dissects a complex, bitter reality of family fragmentation, displacement, genocide, and racism.”
Since his arrest and conviction, Khandaqji has written poetry collections including “Rituals of the First Time” and “The Breath of a Nocturnal Poem,” along with three earlier novels.
On November 1, 2004, three people were killed and over 30 wounded when Amar Al-Far, 16, from the Askar refugee camp in Nablus, detonated a bomb at the popular Carmel Market in Tel Aviv.
