Review

The Collaborator of Bethlehem is the first in a series set in Palestine featuring a school teacher, Omar Yussef Sirhan, who becomes embroiled in the nasty politics of occupied Palestine. A former student, a Christian, has been accused of collaborating with the Israelis in the assassination of a member of the Martyrs Brigade. Accusation = guilt in this world, and Omar Yussef works feverishly to prove his student’s innocence by finding the actual culprit.

We are shown the corruption and brutality, the mock fundamentalism and the tribalism of life under the Palestinian Authority, all of it exacerbated by the brutal Israeli occupation. This is a very sad book, and one that calls out for simple honesty and integrity against the horrors of mob violence.

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