The Collaborator of Bethlehem

Omar Yussef Mystery #1

by Matt Rees

For decades, Omar Yussef has been a teacher of history to the children of Bethlehem. When a favorite former pupil, George Saba, a member of the Palestinian Christian minority, is arrested for collaborating with the Israelis in the killing of a Palestinian guerrilla, Omar is sure he has been framed. If George is not cleared, he faces imminent execution. Then the wife of the dead man, also one of Omar Yussef’s former pupils, is murdered, possibly raped. When he begins to suspect the head of the Bethlehem al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is the true collaborator, Omar and his family are threatened. But as no one else is willing to stand up to the violent Martyrs Brigades men, who hold the real power in the town, it is up to him to investigate.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Middle East, Crime, Israel, Thriller, Detective

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

I'm an award-winning writer of international thrillers, mysteries, and historical fiction. I'm giving away a FREE ebook THE THRILLER CHECKLIST, a no-nonsense guide to get your thriller written. Get it here: http://bit.ly/2r2jciK.

My novels have grown out of my career as a Middle East correspondent, which took me into culture very different from my own, and my love of history, which takes me into times very different from now. But those places and times aren't so completely different. I love to examine the emotions that connect you and me to people who live in distant places or distant times.

My books have been dramatized for BBC Radio and published in 25 languages. Along the way I picked up some major awards (a Crime Writers Association Dagger in the UK and a National Jewish Book Council finalist in the US)) and some nice compliments: major authors have compared my writing with the work of Graham Greene, John Le Carre, Georges Simenon and Henning Mankell.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09tcb4r

Description: For decades, Omar Yussef has been a teacher of history to the children of Bethlehem. When a favourite former pupil, George Saba, is arrested for collaborating with the Israelis in the killing of a Palestinian guerrilla, Yussef is convinced that he has been framed. With George facing execution Yussef sets out to prove his innocence.

Matt Rees has turned his observations from working as Time magazine's Jerusalem bureau chief into murder mysteries set in Palestine, with angry idealist Omar Yussef, school teacher and amateur sleuth, as his narrator.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I’ve lived a life of many changes. I learned that change is a good thing. But here in Palestine change is always for the worse.
Even to change a situation of hatred, they only make still more hatred. Love is not an option. It’s the choice of an idiot who wants
to end with nothing, robbed and abused and humiliated. The result is that, in the end, everyone’s convinced that the only way to alter the bad relations between Christians and Muslims, or between Israelis and Palestinians for that matter, is to wipe out the other side. To kill them all. Like they’ll kill me, now.”
Life is terrorism, so spare me your indignation. Life is one big infiltration of our secure defenses. Some people put bombs on buses and blow them up: those are terrorists. Some people speak to you and their words blow
you up: what would you call those people? Life is a condemned cell. If your friend George Saba finds himself locked up on death row today, it’s only because he never had the brains to realize that he lived his whole life there. That’s the only way to protect yourself, Abu Ramiz—to understand that you’re always under sentence of death and to try to get a temporary remission.”
integrity and knowledge were worthless in the world. But they were precious to him. If he had a soul,

All the time this breath slowly chills, until death. Every exhalation is an expulsion of some
part of our finite store of life, and also a sigh of relief that the grave is closer by one tedious, depressing pulse.

He had strapped a belt of explosives to his torso, but the detonation was inside him."

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This turned out to be an interesting little thriller where a history teacher Omar Yussef tries to solve the mystery of a murder because he does not believe his friends guilt in the matter.

The murders in this book are the axis around the story of life on the west bank of Palestina, it is not a criticism about a the Israeli or the Palestinian people, it is an eye opening view upon the society in which people live after the Israeli state came to exist and what has happened since then. The story is told through the yes of Omar who seems to be the moral compass in the story and shows the modern world in the west bank among their own people.

A really impressive story that does show a world we rarely hear about or even experience in any way. A really good read, the mystery does not become the focus just the world were Omar lives in.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Collaborator of Bethlehem by author Matt Rees is the first book in his Omar Yussef mystery series. Omar Yussef is a teacher at the UN school in Bethlehem. He's a somewhat frustrated middle aged man, not liking how the people of Palestine are developing. His job is also at threat by the American principal of the school, as the principal doesn't appreciate Omar's crusty, old-fashioned attitudes.

Omar meets an old friend, a Christian, George Saba for coffee and they part their ways. George has complained about his frustration. Palestinian rebels, from the Martyr's Brigade, have used the rooftop of George's house to fire into Israel at night, thereby making Georg's house a target for return fire from the Israelis. As George returns to his home that night, the activity is going on and George finds his family cowering behind the stone walls of the house as it is riddled with fire from the Israel side of the border. He gets an old revolver from his house and goes to the roof to get rid of the Palestinians.

The next day, Omar discovers that George has been arrested for collaborating with the Israelis on the murder of another Palestinian, another rebel. Omar goes with the police chief to the house and discovers another former student of his (George was one as well) Dima was married to the murdered man. Omar finds clues that lead him to believe that George is innocent and just a target because he is a Christian. Omar believes that George has been set up by the Martyr's Brigade leaders.

So begins a frustrating and scary investigation by Omar as he tries to prove George's innocence. He hits walls at every turn. The police are powerless, or involved maybe, as the power is held by the 'rebels' who terrorize the regular citizens. Omar's job is still at risk and even his family is being threatened. Omar finds himself frustratingly helpless to accomplish anything and other people will die, either due to his interference or just to get rid of possible witnesses. Omar doesn't know who to trust and how to solve this crime and to save his friend.

It is a scary story and quite a portrait of life in Palestine. How accurate, I don't know, but Matt Rees was Bureau Chief for Time in Jerusalem, so I imagine he's got a perspective. There a very nice people in Bethlehem, many of the friends of Omar are evidence of this. But there is also much hatred and crime as people fight for control and power. The Israelis are an ever present force as well , somewhat faceless at times, evidenced by the helicopters that hover over the Palestine and then conducting raids into Bethlehem to find the threats. Fascinating, terrifying world. How do you try to live a normal life; go to school, raise your family, etc. The story isn't perfect and is fairly depressing, although there is a positive (ish) ending. I will find the other books in this series to see more about Omar's life. Will he continue to teach or has he got the detective bug??? (3.5 stars)

[Berengaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 3.5
"The Collaborator of Bethlehem" is a literary-leaning cultural mystery about a liberal Palestinian teacher at a UN-run school caught between his moral duty to his former students and keeping his own head on his shoulders.

Omar Jussuf is from another era. An era when Christians, Jews and Muslims all lived peacefully together in the area around Bethlehem.

Not today. Paramilitary Muslim"Martyr Brigades" control the city, the Palestinian government is in the hands of terrorists, the police are almost as powerless as the populace, the Israeli army is just across the valley and heavily armed, and the Christian population has either immigrated to Chile or has made themselves as invisible as possible to avoid attacks or being used as scapegoats/human shields.

This situation is the real theme of the novel. The mystery is very basic and superficial...one of Jussuf's former pupils, a Christian, confronts a few of the Martyr Brigade and is imprisoned and condemned to death for a murder he didn't commit. Jussuf feels he must clear his old student's name and save him.

While being quite well-written and serving up excellent setting and character details, the classic reveal and last minute save were done rather clumsily and the reason why this novel didn't get a higher rating from me.

Rees, who was a journalist covering the Middle East for many years, doesn't spare the reader any of the violence or bloodshed. Forget horror stories. This novel is bloody and violent in the most realistic of ways -- the kind we see on the news.

Jussuf himself can be seen as an arrogant egotist believing that his moral stance and liberalism puts him above everyone around him...or he can be seen as another type of martyr. One who puts himself in danger for his principals, not for any religious belief.

An interesting series beginning which hopefully will develop better plots as it moves forward.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Collaborator of Bethlehem is fascinating. It works better as an authentic description of life as a Palestinian in Bethlehem, and the significance of rule of law to every day existence, than it does as a mystery, but it works fine as a mystery, at least for the initial 80%. That's the point where I wanted to grab Omar by the shoulders and say, "stop!" in the same way that you scream at the TV or movie screen at your protagonist not to head into a certain building because the score and fact that he/she has no backup shifts the risk of a bad outcome to close to 100%. But, in the end, these characters are authentic and Rees' writing is a pleasure. Whether you read it for the culture and history it provides, or you read it because you want a fresh take on the cozy mystery, read it.

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 MAR 2018 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09tcb4r

Bettie found this at the BBC. I am thankful. I will listen to this at my lunch hour tomorrow. Thank you, Dear Friend.

7 MAR 2018 - loved this! Thank you, Dear Bettie.

[Steven Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a voracious reader of mysteries that have a contemporary political bent I always look forward to title suggestions from others. Last week a friend introduced me to Matt Benyon Rees and his protagonist, Omar Yussef. After reading THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM the first of four “Yussef” books, I am sold. Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankell and others of their ilk have nothing on Mr. Rees who has created an evocative character that allows the reader to enter the byzantine politics of the Palestinian movement and its war against Israeli occupation by employing a newly created detective investigating his first crime. In reality, Yussef is a school teacher who is being forced to retire at the age of fifty-six and due to events he is forced, as a matter of honor to try and assist a former student who is falsely accused and arrested for collaborating with the Israelis. The story follows Yussef’s journey to free his protégé and the murderous events that ensue.
Mr. Rees is a superb writer who possesses a strong knowledge of Arab and Muslim traditions which he weaves throughout the narrative. The accuracy of the background political and social mores and institutions provides the reader their own education to try and understand why peace has been so difficult to achieve between Palestinians and Israelis since 1948. The author covers the gamut of issues that confront Israel and the Palestinians today; suicide bombings, corrupt leadership, the “iron fist” of Israeli occupation, and the effects of these policies on the Palestinian people. I recommend this book very highly and I look forward to reading the next one in the series, A GRAVE IN GAZA.

[Elsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected to enjoy this book and it did not disappoint. I haven't read any fiction set in occupied Palestine and I was hoping to get a sense of what life is like under the occupation. The author paints a very grim picture. Not only do the Christians and Muslims live in fear of the Israelis' attacks, but they are also at war with each other, living lives full of distrust, violence and inhumanity. There doesn't seem to be any solution.

The mystery is well written and intriguing, with lots of suspense and a resolution that I didn't see coming. The author has written a series of mysteries with the same detecting lead character. I may have to wait awhile before going back into this disturbing environment. I recommend the book.

[Rowena Hoseason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard going, this. It’s a carefully plotted and well executed example of a technically excellent thriller, saturated with cultural detail, but it’s unrelenting, gruelling reading. The action takes places near Jerusalem, in a Palestinian neighbourhood that’s being torn apart by continual fighting between Muslim militia and the Israeli army. Mafia-style gangs terrorise local businesses, corruption is rife in the police and legal systems, and justice is at best arbitrary.
There’s a solid story and a grimly authentic atmosphere, but little in the way of moral resolution. it’s not unlike reading about The Troubles in Ireland, and every bit as depressing.
6/10

There are many more of my reviews of crime / thriller / mysteries over at http://www.murdermayhemandmore.net

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great title for a novel I thought when I picked it up. Then I saw that it was praised by David Baldacci so I put it back again. But then I thought, I might look at what else people have said. A cross between Yasser Arafat and Miss Marple. Ah. I could not resist that.

Now the hero of this book is a Palestine but that is where the similarity to Arafat ends and lets say his detective abilities are not on a par with Jane’s. I liked the book but not for its mystery qualities. Actually, it was more or less clear from the beginning that the habit of the people to refer to a man by reference to his son would play a role in the “solution” of the crime. Our hero is called Omar Yussef but everyone calls him Abu Ramiz. Father of Ramiz. One of the victims, an American, the boss of Omar, wants to be called Abu Scott, because if he had had a son he would have named him Scott.

Lots of people die. Among them the prime suspect. So the true villain is more of less found by elimination. I liked the characters, especially the police officer who had been “what people choose to call a terrorist“ in his earlier life. I had hoped to learn a bit more about the daily life in Bethlehem than that they drink lots of tea.

7/10

[Marieke · Rating 4 out of 5]

i don't like reviewing books and plenty of other people reviewed it. i'll just say: i liked it and i'll definitely read the series. i was impressed with how the author handled the complexities of palestinian history and life as an occupied people...i'm wondering what palestinians would make of it but so far i've only seen reviews by non-palestinians.

i thought the following quotes really exemplify what i consider the author's incisiveness:

the problem of religion:

"Omar Yussef looked up into the bearded face of the carved figure. He detected nothing spiritual in it. It was as blank as if it were set in a supermarket jello mold. 'St. Jerome?'
'Yes, our local saint and martyr,' Elias Bishara said. 'I was meditating on our friend George Saba earlier. I realized that I felt hatred toward the Muslims of our town for what they have done to George. I hate them for their unthinking orthodoxy and their crazy compulsion to martyrdom. I came here, to the feet of Jerome, to be reminded that we Christians have had our share of lunatics, fanatically rejecting those who thought and worshipped differently.'"

"The policemen lifted Habib Saba. A thick black book dropped from his grasp into the dust and stone. Omar Yussef brushed the powdered cement from the worn leather cover and opened it. On the flyleaf, there was an inscription in an educated, old-fashioned hand: 'To Abu Omar, God willing there always will be such harmony between those of our two faiths as there has been between you and I. Your dear friend, Issa.'"

and the problem of education:
"The government inspector read from a series of letters he claimed parents had written to his department. The letters quoted Omar Yussef criticizing the president and the government, lambasting the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades as gangsters, condemning suicide bombings and talking disrespectfully about the sheikhs in some of the local mosques. 'Last month,' the inspector said, 'some of the students were hurt in a demonstration against Occupation soldiers at Rachel's Tomb. The next day, teacher Omar Yussef told them that instead of throwing stones at soldiers, children should throw stones at their parents and their government for making a mess of their lives. This is a precise quote: for making a mess of their lives, throw stones at their parents and their government.' ...

This stupid man really thought I wanted the children to attack their parents. 'The children were already violent. They attacked the soldiers. I hope it's not revolutionary to point out that this is still an act of violence, whatever their reasons for doing so. I was suggesting to the children that the guiltiest target is not always the most obvious one,' he said.

'That is outrageous.' the government inspector said. 'To place parents and the government before the Occupation Forces as criminals against the Palestinian people.'

'It's politically correct these days to blow yourself up in a crowd of civilians. It's politically correct to praise those who detonate themselves and to laud them in the newspapers and in the mosques.' Omar Yussef banged the edge of his hand on the desk. 'But you say that it's outrageous for me to encourage intellectual inquiry?'"

[WhatDidTheyDoToUs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Much is made of the main character being a great teacher but in the only scene set in a classroom he makes a child cry. His much talked about morality seems to be “we as a society should roll over and die. Also people should be nice to my good students”

The main character is privileged and independently wealthy, being the son of a tribal leader, and just can’t understand why everyone else doesn’t act like him. This is not done as some sort of commentary but just a matter of fact.

Israel is treated as a force of nature, given no real face or voice, being written like when a deadly hurricane rolls into town. In better hands this would be interesting but I suspect it has more to with the author not wanting to examine what Israel’s policies do to the people of Palestine as that would get in the way of his simple, boring and oddly Christian morality play.

[Meredith Galman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating, even heart-breaking, background of day-to-day life in Palestinian Bethlehem, where increased Muslim nationalism and militarism have driven the Christians into a despised underground minority, thugs and soldiers fighting it out in the streets is a daily occurrence, and the people who are supposed to protect you are just as scary as those they're protecting you from. Unfortunately, author Rees writes in such a dull, affectless style it's difficult to empathize with the characters and their tragic situation. Protagonist Omar Yussef is a decent, ordinary guy, but a terrible detective: he gathers evidence but misunderstands what it means, leaps to unwarranted conclusions, is a bad judge of character, and completely fails in his mission to save his friend. Naturally, at the end of the book he decides to resign his teaching job and open a private detective agency.

[Jan Rice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because it sounded good and also as a personal stand against the boycotting of ideas. There is much in this book that has the ring of truth. Still, I was left with the odd impression that the main character and budding detective Omar Yussef takes a more moral and humane stance than the author himself--odd, since Yussef is the author's creation! Yussef insists on seeing everyone's humanity, but I'm not sure the author could quite find it in himself to do so.

This book would be an excellent choice for group discussion.

[Ram Kaushik · Rating 4 out of 5]

The occupied Palestinian territories (or Israeli territories, depending on your viewpoint) forms a fascinating backdrop to this mystery. The author is a Middle East expert, so offers a nuanced view of life in the West Bank. The book explores the authorities' siege/victim mentality beautifully. The lines between violent thug, terrorist and "martyr for the cause" are incredibly blurry in this novel. Worth a read. Oh, and the mystery is somewhat mundane - but who cares about that?

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Warning: The introduction to the review of the book is rather long; I apologize for that but felt it necessary to ensure readers have the complete context from which I base this review. In an era of soundbites, pull quotes, memes and GIFs, I shall plant my lonely flag of exposition. It’s a luxury afforded to those of us who have maybe two people who read our blog.]

It can be very easy in today’s information-saturated age to believe one understand a place and its people, even never having been there (or spoken to anyone who has). It is so effortless, after all, to binge watch YouTube lectures and read an assortment of blogs, articles and – for the true cyber-anthropologists – all the comments below said videos or articles.

That said, it is equally easy to become so inundated with information, from so many conflicting sources, that one loses all hope of ever understanding other places, cultures and people.

Finally, there are those who moor against the unceasing tidal waves of information by sheltering within unshakable conviction.

Thankfully, fiction allows an alternate avenue to information about cultures, places, nations and, naturally, conflict. If a work a good – and I don’t mean just entertaining, I mean a piece that truly masters a genre – then intertwined with dialogue and people spun from thin air are real, honest facts and truths about the character’s setting, societal norms and culture.[1]

Fiction allows us to learn and absorb information in a way that somewhat cushions against the modern instinct, not misplaced, to analyze the source and its motives. We already know that story is the motive, and we trust that the writer has done the due diligence to make it a story worth being told.

Perhaps that’s why I have found some of the best insights into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in works of fiction such as Joe Sacco’s startling, disorienting and wonderful graphic novel Palestine. To be sure, I’ve read plenty of nonfiction as well, from Jimmy Carter’s Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid and Sandy Tolan’s The Lemon Tree, but often it was only when reading works of fiction, such as Almost Dead by Assaf Gavron that any of the information I received from the former nonfiction works truly metamorphosed into knowledge, or at least the closest thing I can claim to have of knowledge, given that I’ve never set foot anywhere in Israel.

I’m not going to share my opinions on that conflict; this isn’t a political blog and, in any case, in my view any review that allows political bias to influence an assessment of a work of fiction is not to be trusted.

I will, however, disclose that I have had a fascination and admiration for Middle Eastern culture since I was little girl, long before it became distilled down to media buzzwords and conflated with the Muslim religion.

Which is why I saved this book from a friend’s culling pile.

I forgot about it for years until, looking for a quick read prior to my first travel vacation in five years, I found it again on the wrong bookshelf, the one I reserve for “stand alone” mysteries. And I am so glad I did.

First, a reader should understand that the protagonist, Omar Yussef, is a Christian in an increasingly hostile-to-Christians Bethlehem. He is old enough to recall his father’s friendships with Muslims and Jews, and even to have a few Muslim friends of his own, but cynical enough to recognize the Martyrs Brigade for the strong-arm gang of thugs it is, even as it shrouds itself in the Palestinian flag and resistance movement.

His faith is not the only thing that sets Omar Yussef apart, however. Also compelling is the way he internalized what his father told him when he was forced from the family’s home village by Israeli soldiers. Unlike the other refugees, Omar’s father didn’t expect to return. Which isn’t to say the eviction didn’t touch the Yussef family; his mother was so spiritually traumatized and chronically homesick she never settles into Bethlehem and struggled with severe depression for the rest of her life.

But Omar is no martyr to be pitied; indeed he is human to a degree that one rarely finds in fiction protagonists. As a recovering alcoholic who squandered much of his youth in the bottle, Omar Yussef has been essentially demoted from teaching history at a respectable school to United Nations Palestinian refugee camp girls’ school.

Omar’s thoughtful, if politically tone-deaf, refusal to allow his students to give into blind hatred and propaganda, make him unsurprisingly unpopular with many of his students’ parents and his American boss.

Omar’s drinking has taken a toll on his body, which is aging prematurely, a rather nice change from the typically vigorous, indestructible protagonists so many mystery novels have.

In addition to a complex, rather unlikely hero, Rees also humanizes the ambivalence, weariness, frustration and even hope of everyday people attempting to live ordinary, everyday lives in the midst of a conflict that has global repercussions. Rees shows us families cowering from Israeli tracers and bulldozers that destroy roads in the middle of the night but he also shows, rather mercilessly, the degree to which even Palestinians are not united amongst themselves and their own culpability in perpetuating half of the endless cycle of hate.

It all makes for quick, but thought-provoking reading and it is easy to see why Rees was an award-winning foreign correspondent for The Scotsman and Newsweek.

The mystery at the heart of this novel, with its mix of foregone conclusions, hope, cynicism and the never ending capacity of our fellow humans to surprise and disappoint us, lives up to complex and absorbing backdrop.

Omar’s motives are messy and a bit selfish – one of his brightest former students has been falsely accused of being an Israeli collaborator and helping Shin Bet to assassinate a resistance leader (or terrorist, depending on your perspective) and Reese pulls no punches in its inevitably bloody conclusion – of the many things this novel is, wish fulfillment it is not.

As readers, we can be thankful for that. As people who hope for peace, we can only sigh and accept the truth as it stands.

[1] In no way am I suggesting that reading fiction is an adequate substitution for educating oneself. That is an entirely different process and, by definition, would include credible sources such as newspapers of record, original source notes and transcripts, peer-reviewed academic journal articles and the like.

[Sandie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mystery group liked this book. Omar Yussef is a teacher in a UN school for girls in Bethlehem. He has dinner with a Christian former pupil, and soon afterwards his friend is arrested by the Palestinian authorities and charged with collaborating with the Israelis in the killing of a Palestinian guerilla. Soon afterwards one of his favorite students, and the wife of the dead man is found murdered as well. Omar is convinced of his friend's innocence and sets out to find the truth of what happened.

This book is interesting in that it does not take sides. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians are complicit in the horror and violence that happens. My group wondered how Omar could be safe in so many dangerous places, but our only explanation is that he is protected by his tribe. We were amazed that the government could dig a trench down the middle of the street, disturbing plumbing and electricity but it is believable. Omar's humanity reminded me of Dr. Siri of The Coroner's Lunch.

This is the first of a series by Matt Beynon Rees, a Welsh man and journalist who had spent time in the Middle East.

[Jawahar Surti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this on suggestion of a friend. And this did not disappoint. It is the first historical fiction I have read that is set in Palestine. And having seen the series Fauda, it was easier to visualize the atmosphere as my reading progressed. I thought initially that the Israelis may be brought into the story in a major way, but they were only a part of the backdrop of the local resistance movements. The author also brings the fact out that not every warrior is what he claims. Straight out. No mincing the words. The tale was more of a person's fight against such elements and what he has to face. There are twists and turns and the local language plays a significant part.

[Katerina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Το βιβλίο τρέχει άνετα και κράτα το ενδιαφέρον. Αναφέρεται σε μια δύσκολη και περίεργη περίοδο και περιοχή για την οποία αναρωτιέμαι πόσα γνωρίζω. Η πλοκή λαμβάνει χώρα στην Παλαιστίνη. Ο Ομάρ Γιουσέφ είναι μάλλον αρεστός στον αναγνώστη αλλά όχι τέλειος. Οι χαρακτήρες μπερδεμένοι. Στην τελική ένα ενδιαφέρον αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα.

[Val Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Rees is a Welsh novelist and journalist. This is the first of his books I have read, although he is the author of The Palestine Quartet, a series of crime novels about Omar Yussef a Palestinian sleuth. He is the winner of a Crime Writer’s Association Dagger for his crime fiction. This part of the world has always fascinated me but Rees’s novels approach the Middle East conflict from an often unexpected direction. There are almost no Israeli characters, and the novels maintain a focus on Palestinian society, good and bad.

Rees has stated that this perspective was dictated by his discontent with news reporting of the conflict, which focused on stereotypes of Palestinians as either terrorists or victims. Instead, Rees writes, the diversity of Palestinian society awakened him creatively and made him look at the Middle East from a different angle.

Matt Rees has there fore decided that the best vehicle for his years of reporting from Israel and the Palestinian territories is a murder mystery novel. His focus is Bethlehem, a town that most Christians learn about at an early age and then continue to hear about annually for the rest of their lives. However, in Bethlehem 2003, the baby in the manger and the shepherds on the hillside have been replaced by gangster gunmen and overcrowded refugee camps. It is in the mud-covered alleyways of the camps and the surrounding town that Rees sets this book.

His principal character, Omar Yussef, is a teacher sickened by the culture of death and the glorification of gunmen he sees around him. He leaves the classroom to save the life of an old pupil, a Christian, who was accused of collaborating with Israel. That is a crime punishable by death. Yussef is an interesting character, a Muslim who was once an alcoholic and is not strict about fasting during Ramadan.

The Palestinian society portrayed by Rees is divided between factions, religions and authority – both the good and the bad. Yussef considers the days when Christian and Muslim were close but can do nothing to prevent the mutual suspicion that has grown in the chaos of recent years.

The Bethlehem Murders is an exciting read. Rees roots his story in a series of events that he investigated for a work of non-fiction, Cain’s Field: Faith, Fratricide and Fear in the Middle East. His reader, therefore. gets an insight into Palestinian society that would be hard to achieve in a work of non-fiction. In Rees’s portrayal of Bethlehem the gunmen are the only Palestinian authority. The official police and courts are powerless.

Yusef’s former pupil, George Saba, tried to stop gunmen firing from the roof of his house in Bethlehem across the valley at the suburbs of Jerusalem. Following this audacity, he is accused of collaborating with Israel in the assassination of another Palestinian. Saba’s crimes were to be a member of the Christian minority in the once Christian-dominated town of Bethlehem. He compounded this by standing up to the new members of the ‘resistance’. His former teacher undertakes to unravel a web of prejudice, corruption and complacency as he attempts to free his former pupil and save him from execution.

Through the eyes of Yussef, the reader can begin to understand the real frustration of Palestinians. It also becomes clearer why members of the Palestinian Authority have been reluctant to give up their privileges.

Some readers may be disappointed to find that Israel has only an offstage presence in this book, but Rees is sticking to the territory he knows best. The world that he writes about does not represent the whole Palestinian experience, but this is a very good story which offers some illumination of the bigger picture. I enjoyed the book and hope to read more in the series.

[Karen]

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.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omar Yussef, a crusty grandfather, refuses to mind his own business. Friends run into trouble in Dehaisha, a refugee camp on the outskirts of Bethlehem, and he looks into the void.

This book is overwhelming in its pathos, and terrifying in its implications. This old schoolmaster, Omar Yussef, almost goes out of his way to avoid finding evidence of murder in Dehaisha, perpetrated, he believes, by a leader of the resistance. Instead he finds clues just lying about, ignored by the very people meant to serve the people and protect them from harm. His anger and fury come into focus as his family is threatened and blameless friends and colleagues accused, jailed, and murdered.

I had not realized that "the gunmen" of the Palestinian resistance were so reviled from within, but it makes eminent sense. This is a novel, of course, but I think Matt Beynon Rees may be speaking to a larger truth here that is difficult to convey to those, like myself, who have turned their face from a conflict that rages with no end in sight, that doesn't make economic or political or humanitarian sense, and is sickening in its reveal of the baseness of human nature.

The author has painted a grim picture of life in the settlements. He is not unkind to Israelis who, in the one appearance they make in this volume, appear rational, albeit destructive. His main character is difficult to like, he is so full of bile at a system that gives him no peace but plenty of pain. But if we walk with him a short way, we begin to see what he sees, and it is indescribably sad.

[Ensiform · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omar Yussef, a history teacher at the UN school in Bethlehem, is nearing retirement age. When one of his former students, George, a Christian, is arrested for being a collaborator with the Israelis, and another student's husband is killed, he takes a leave of absence to investigate. Finding overwhelming evidence that the Martyrs' Brigade – a gang of cowardly hoods – actually did the killing, he fights to save George despite the overwhelming atmosphere of violence and vengeance that pervades Bethlehem.

This is a crime novel and in a loose sense a thriller, though it's not so much a whodunit, as the reader is treated to Yussef’s every (seemingly justified) suspicion as new facts come to his attention. He considers every angle, even that his old friend the police chief is corrupt; he must, because that's the world he lives in. An immersion in the culture of the middle east, the book is a character study, and a study of place as well, evoking strongly the despair, the rage, the shame, the helplessness, and the resignation of those living under the Occupation. Powerfully written, moving, complex, and all too human, this is a wonderful debut novel.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very illuminating first novel by the former Jerusalem bureau chief of Time magazine. He draws a very grim, gritty, and realistic picture of life among the Palestinians in Bethlehem, with clan rivalries, corrupt police, fanatical martyr brigades, and normal families trying to survive in the chaos of a power vacuum. A lowly schoolteacher tries to free a man he knows to be innocent while simultaneously finding the person who must be guilty. He hopes the size and strength of his own clan will keep him moderately safe when he defies the bullies, but he is never sure who he can trust. He makes many mistakes, barely escapes with his life on several occasions, and inadvertently causes much horrifying collateral damage and bloodshed. Justice is only barely done at very great expense. At first I was fascinated, but I gradually became simply stunned by the violence and cruelty. The schoolteacher is a noble and honest man, and I'd like to read more about him. He tries desperately to avoid becoming vindictive, vengeful, and righteous like most of the thugs he despises. There are three or four more books in the series, but I'm not sure I can pay the emotional price to read more.

[Nitya Iyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an incredibly hard book for me to read, simply because it captures so accurately the heartache of having no answers to questions of ethics and morality in a war zone with no good guys and bad guys, just guys with guns.

Honestly, in a fun little twist to the genre, I found the murder mystery itself paled in comparison to the interest generated by the investigator himself. In fact, I would venture to say that any other character would have left me so bored I wouldn't have even bothered finishing the book. As it stands though, i'm going to give the next one in the series a shot in hopes that Youssef stays the same but the mystery is more interesting.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting debut novel of a series starring Omar Yussef, a Christian teacher in his mid-50’s in Bethlehem, who decides to investigate when one of the villagers he knows is murdered and another friend is arrested. Yussef thinks it is the leader of a gang who actually killed the man and decides to investigate, bringing himself to the notice of some very dangerous people and unhappiness by the police that he is interfering. Nice to see how the relations between Muslims and Christians has developed over time and the negative effects in Bethlehem the changes have. Looking forward to reading the second in the series in a few weeks