The Collaborator Of Bethlehem (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
As implausible as it sounds Omar Yussef is a man in the middle of an awful situation that you want to meet. Spend some time with. Drink some sa'ada coffee. Talk to about his Bethlehem. Omar brings a unique perspective to murder, to power games and to fanaticism whilst simultaneously providing a human and humane view of life in his Bethlehem. That Bethlehem is a world of conflict within and from without his own society; and the tension that changed viewpoints between generations brings. Where once he intermixed happily with all people in the town, now there's a very different feeling and he's horrified by what he sees happening around him.Yussef is an opinionated, "difficult" teacher in a refugee camp, he says what he thinks, he likes his pupils to think and to be challenged and he genuinely loves and cares for them - even if he's a bit grumpy with them sometimes. So when an ex-student and friend of his, George Saba is accused of collaborating with the Israelis - a crime punishable by death - and nobody else seems to want to do anything to help, Yussef turns from teaching to detecting. Of course, this isn't going to be quite as big a relief as the UN appointed head of his school thinks - he's been hoping Yussef will retire for years - but he really should have been more careful about cultural sensitivity when he starts putting words into Yussef's mouth.Mind you, Yussef is not exactly perfect. He is prone to grumpiness, he can be acerbic, he hates anointed authority, he used to have a drinking problem and he's a Muslim in a society made up of the devout and the not so devout of many religions. But he also lives in a very complicated Palestinian society - divided between factions, religions, clans, power bases and the good and the bad. So his complicated nature seems almost tame sometimes by comparison. And that complication is one of the great strengths of THE BETHLEHEM MURDERS. Incorporated alongside a complicated and complex character, there's a complex society and a series of deaths which are stark, appalling and desperately sad. Yussef is also a character that the author has allowed to make mistakes - and he forces Yussef to face those mistakes.The interesting balancing act in THE BETHLEHEM MURDERS surely has to be that the book tells a story of Palestinian society which has such a realistic feel to it, that really gives the reader insights into the nature of day to day life in Yussef's world, but at the same time, it provides a real plot and it moves forward through the story of Yussef and of George Saba and his family - and all the other families that are dragged into what seems like day to day violence. And under it all there's a message that fanaticism comes in all sorts of different forms - and sometimes it's not directed outwards.
First line: Omar Yussef, a teacher of history to the unhappy children of Dehaisha refugee camp, shuffled stiffly up the meandering road, past the gray, stone homes built in the time of the Turks on the edge of Beit Jala. When a young member of the Palestinian resistance is shot dead near his home on the outskirts of Bethlehem, George Saba, a Christian, is arrested as the collaborator who led the Israelis to him. As a member of the minority Christian community, he is a convenient scapegoat, but Omar Yussef, his old teacher and friend, is convinced that George has been framed.With George under threat of imminent execution, Omar takes leave from his teaching job to carry out his own investigation. His enquiries bring him up against the Martyrs Brigade, the resistance fighters who effectively run the town. To Omar, they are no more than a gang of corrupt and violent thugs. Everyone, including the police and legal system are powerless against them, and it seems Omar is the only one interested in the truth. As he moves closer to discovering that truth, he puts himself and his family in danger.THE BETHLEHEM MURDERS is a fascinating book, as much for its insight into the effect of the ongoing conflict in Palestine on the lives of ordinary people, as it is for the mystery. Rees brilliantly evokes the atmosphere of a town in the middle of a battlezone, and a people living with daily violence, fear and uncertainty.Rees has created a very different and exceptional hero in Omar Yussef. A middle-aged school teacher with a full set of human foibles, he is a man of great integrity, who ultimately cares more about the truth than his own safety. He hates what has happened to his town, and he mourns the time in the past when Christian and Muslim could live together in harmony.There are some horrific and brutal scenes, made all the more so by Rees' note at the beginning of the book which states that all the crimes in the book were based on real events in Bethlehem. Omar Yussef 's quiet, cynical humour provides a few lighter moments in an otherwise rather bleak book. Rees is a wonderful storyteller and this beautifully written book brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. I look forward to reading more of Omar Yussef's adventures.This book also goes by the title of THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM (USA).Matt Rees is a journalist who has worked in the Middle East for more than 10 years. He has written two more books featuring Omar Yussef, THE SALADIN MURDERS (or A GRAVE IN GAZA in the USA - why do they do that?), and THE SAMARITAN'S SECRET (which rather surprisingly appears to have the same title on both sides of the pond). You can find more information at Matt's website.
What do You think about The Collaborator Of Bethlehem (2007)?
I'm a reader of books about the Middle East, and this mystery set in Bethlehem on the West Bank caught my eye. At first I didn't think I'd like it, but I was quickly drawn into the twists and turns of plot, a few of them shocking, and felt I'd been immersed in Arab-Israeli political tensions in a way I'd never been before. Welsh-born author Rees, a journalist with Time magazine in Jerusalem, chooses as his central character an Arab history teacher at a UN-run girls school for refugees. A man with a comb-over and a mid-life crisis - and unqualified as a detective - he attempts to uncover the identity of an informer responsible for the killing of a young resistance fighter, which has led to the false arrest of a close friend.For me, the final solving of this mystery was not so interesting as the portrayal of daily life in a world where the rule of law has been subverted by armed insurgents and an embrace of martyrdom, all set against the presence of an occupying army with considerably superior fire power. Occasions to kill or be killed multiply in this environment, whether as the victim of revenge, dishonor, mob violence, suicide bombing, or cross-fire between combatants. Framing all this within the conventions of the detective story makes this novel something close to creative nonfiction. Meanwhile, as the sole voice of reason and decency crying in this wilderness, the detective Omar Yussef becomes someone you admire for his courage - though it may seem foolish at times. I hope Rees' book is the first of a series; I look forward to reading more.
—Ron
I first heard of this book from an NPR series on writers who set mysteries in particular cities. I liked the idea of a mystery series set on the West Bank. The author is a Welshman who’s been a journalist in the Middle East. This is the first novel in what’s meant to be a series.I both liked and didn’t like this one. It was a slow read and it was often hard to tell where the story was going. On the other hand, the outcome was not in the least predictable and the author’s version of life in the Palestinian territories of Israel was disturbing—dismal and morally twisted—but very interesting.The main character is Omar Yussef, an aging history teacher at a UN refugee camp. He comes from a large clan that was driven from their lands but has wisely concluded that there’s not much point in living in the past. Omar Yussef has Christian and Muslim friends—he’s a Muslim himself but not a very strict one—and encourages his children and his students to seek positive ways to build better lives for themselves even while living in the midst of violence and extreme ideology. The Martyrs Brigade is the “enemy” in this novel and the crime that opens it involves a Christian former student of Omar’s who has been arrested as a collaborator who informed the Israeli soldiers how to find (and subsequently kill) a young man active in the resistance. He finds a few clues that give him a sense of where blame really lies and takes them to his friend, the police chief, a former terrorist with a prosthetic “black hand”. The policeman, of course, tell him not to investigate and he, of course, can’t help but continue.
—Susan
This one came hurtling out of left field and blew me away. It’s a straightforward read packed with considerable insights on Palestinian culture written in a fluid, stylish prose. I was dead set on judging it as a Mideast version of the Patterson rubbish abandoned in booksales but mercifully proved to be more than just your run-off-the-mill genre fiction. The character of Omar Yussef is credible. I appreciated his commitment to educate the youth, his integrity, his passionate efforts to save an innocent man. But what I was most drawn to was his ordinariness. There is something so everyday about him that readers can easily relate to and shake hands with. He is a recovering alcoholic, a surly man growing old sooner than he was prepared to, a grandpa who enjoys colourful footwear and plush winter clothes. Even if he is a fictional character literally trapped in a war zone, 12 hours away via plane from my bedroom where I’m writing this review I feel like I’ve already met him. Reese did a great job building his protagonist. Omar Yussef is subtly drawn and the depth or despair that imbues him was served in just the right dosages. I wouldn't mind reading more.
—Patricia
