Raja Shehadeh studied law in London. His grandfather, Saleem, was a judge in the courts of the British Mandate of Palestine. His father, Aziz, also a lawyer, was one of the first Palestinians to publicly support a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Shehadeh is a founder of the human rights organization, Al-Haq, an affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists. He has written several books on international law, human rights and the Middle East. Strangers in the House was described by The Economist as "distinctive and truly impressive", In 2008, he won the Orwell Prize, Britain's pre-eminent award for political writing, for his book Palestinian Walks.

Shehadeh's published works include:

• Strangers in the House (2002)
• When the Bulbul Stopped Singing (2003)
• Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape (2007, 2nd edition published as Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape, 2008)