SEP Talk: Hani Dabbagh on Bearing Witness to Palestine
Posted on November 13 2026
Normalisation of Violence — A Personal Journey to the Occupied West Bank
Some experiences stay with us long after we return home. And sometimes, sharing them becomes a responsibility.
At our latest SEP Talk in Geneva, we welcomed Hani Dabbagh, an engineer with a PhD and a successful corporate career, who recently took an unexpected step: publishing his first book.
Normalisation of Violence: Living Under Israeli Apartheid brings together his travel diary and photographs from a family journey to the occupied West Bank in October 2022.
The journey took place more than three years ago. The decision to publish came much later.
For Hani, the time had come to share what he had witnessed.
An evening with Hani Dabbagh
Hani Dabbagh at SEP Geneva, discussing his book and the experience of returning to Palestine.
Key reflections from the conversation
Why publish now?
Growing up in Switzerland and the UK, Hani remembers a time when speaking openly about the abuses of the Israeli occupation was almost unthinkable.
Today, those conversations are increasingly taking place in public. Yet, at the same time, the reality of occupation has become more violent and unbearable for Palestinians living under it.
This contrast helped convince Hani that his family's experience should no longer remain private.
He wanted others to see what he had seen, perhaps encouraging them to make the journey themselves. Above all, he wanted Palestinians in the West Bank to know that they are not alone.
Returning as a son of the 1948 Palestinian diaspora
What makes this book particularly compelling is its personal perspective.
Hani writes not as a journalist or a political analyst, but as a Palestinian whose family was displaced in 1948, returning briefly to his occupied homeland.
The book captures the contrast between the ordinary moments of family travel and the extraordinary restrictions imposed on everyday Palestinian life.
It is an account of what it feels like to return to a place that is yours, yet where your freedom of movement and sense of belonging are constantly challenged.
Photography as a way of bearing witness
Hani is also a passionate amateur photographer, and the images he selected for the book are an essential part of the experience.
We particularly appreciate the way his photographs bring us close to the places, people and everyday details of the West Bank.
They invite readers to look carefully, beyond headlines and statistics, at a reality that should never become normal.
Why SEP hosted this conversation
Hani and his wife Corinne have been part of the SEP community for years.
Over time, we have enjoyed many conversations together in our Geneva store about Palestine, identity, family and the responsibility of speaking up.
We felt it was time to share some of those conversations with our wider community.
SEP Talks were created precisely for this: bringing people together in an intimate setting, without a stage or scripted speeches, where personal experiences can open up deeper conversations.
This evening was particularly meaningful because it grew naturally out of relationships built over the years.
Read the book
We recommend Normalisation of Violence not necessarily because it will teach you something new about the occupation.
We recommend it because it offers something different: the emotions, observations and photographs of a son of the 1948 diaspora returning, however briefly, to his occupied homeland.
It is an invitation to witness, to connect and, above all, not to look away.
