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BookBrowse Reviews The Collaborator of Bethlehem: An outstanding crime fiction debut set in modern-day Bethlehem

The Collaborator of Bethlehem
An Omar Yussef Mystery
by Matt Beynon Rees
Paperback, Jan 2008,
272 pages.
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Set in Bethlehem in the early 2000s, Matt Beynon Rees's first novel depicts a city under siege by the Israelis and torn from within by gun-wielding gangs that extort money from businesses and control local politics. Set against the backdrop of real events and inspired by real people, the story hinges on Omar Yussef, a 56-year old Palestinian teacher from a well respected but not particularly wealthy or influential clan. Yussef is an honorable man who questions the way society is deteriorating around him and maintains his intelligence and decency even when others around him descend into hatred.

Yussef used to teach history at an international school but now teaches at the U.N. girls school in the squalid Dheisheh refugee camp. Long ago, he dreamed of leaving a legacy behind him in the form of the...
Beyond the Book
A Short History of Palestine
  • The Canaanites are the earliest known civilization to live in the area of land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, living in city-states such as Jericho around 3,000 BCE. Positioned close to Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia and Asia Minor the area was not only a meeting point for different cultures but also a battleground for various empires such as the Assyrians and Egyptians, and was fought over by different groups of invaders including the Amorites, Hittites and Hurrians.
  • Around the 14th century BCE,...
This review was originally published in April 2007, and has been updated for the January 2008 paperback release. Click here to go to this issue.
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