Children of Bethany : The Story of a Palestinian Family

by Saïd K. Aburish

The story of the family of Khalil Aburish, (d.1936), a flamboyant headsman in the little village of Bethany, just outside Jerusalem-his wife, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It is the story of a family torn apart by events in Palestine in this century.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Palestinian journalist and writer.

Saïd K. Aburish was born in the biblical village of Bethany near Jerusalem in 1935. One of his grandfathers was a Muslim judge of the Islamic High Court and a lecturer at the Arab college; the other was a village headman.

Aburish attended school in Jerusalem and Beirut, and university in the United States. He returned to Beirut as a reporter for Radio Free Europe and the London Daily Mail. He consulted for two Arab governments and written several books.

Reviews

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I read it some years ago just after having visited Palestine (also visited Bethany while I was there) so I found it especially poignant reading this family history and gaining an insight into the lives of the people in Bethany some 50+ years previously. The joys and sadnesses and struggles and traditions of the people made for a compelling read.

[alice-norah · Rating 5 out of 5]

someone on Goodreads once said: "if you don't want to read a history book about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, read this book."

I couldn't agree more.

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saïd Aburish was a journalist and a descendant of the leading family of Bethany, a small village in the outskirts of Jerusalem. Known in Palestine as Al-Eizariyah, it is the location of the Tomb of Lazarus which provided the impetus for his family’s rise to power. The book is a brutally honest and insightful history of a family that is a microcosm of rural Palestinian society. Aburish traces the impact of successive occupations (British, Jordanian, Israeli) on a traditional society that had remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years. We watch the old order as well as the “amity which always characterised sectarian relations in old Palestine” unravel. The author deconstructs the impact on different members of the family and how they follow different paths depending on their circumstances, abilities and temperaments, some of them eventually in the diaspora and others remaining in Palestine to endure. His clear-eyed analysis of people and systems, and their interconnections, is delivered in articulate, fluent prose, resulting in not only an important historical document but also an anthropological one.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Follows the Aburish family in Bethany over various generations from WW1 through to the modern day - a microcosm of change under the Turkish, British, Jordanians and Israel.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insight via 1 family's history to the life of Arabs in Palestine. Eye opening for me as a resident of middle east. Good one for all readers...

[Kymberlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't want to read a history book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, read this book instead. It's the story of one family from about 1900 to the 1980's. I love this writer's style.