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Summary:
As a child, Elias Chacour lived in a small Palestinian village in Galilee. The townspeople were proud of their ancient Christian heritage and lived at peace with their Jewish neighbors. But early in 1947, their idyllic lifestyle was swept away as tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed and nearly one million forced into refugee camps. An exile in his native land, Elias began a years-long struggle with his love for the Jewish people and the world's misunderstanding of his own people, the Palestinians. How was he to respond? He found his answer in the simple, haunting words of the Man of Galilee: "Blessed are the peacemakers." In Blood Brothers, Chacour blends his riveting life story with historical research to reveal a little-known side of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the birth of modern Israel. He touches on controversial questions such as "What behind-the-scenes politics touched off the turmoil in the Middle East?", "What does Bible prophecy really have to say?", and "Can bitter enemies ever be reconciled?" Originally published by Chosen Books in 1984 and now expanded with a new introduction by the author, a new foreword by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, and a "Since Then" epilogue by writer David Hazard, this compelling book offers readers hope-filled insight into living at peace in the most volatile region of the world.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Blood Brothers
Customer Rating:
I highly recommend this book for the information and the point of view which I think most Americans have never heard. Most Americans are not even aware that Palestinians include Christians as well as Muslims and we have grown up hearing how wonderful it was that Israel was "set aside" or "given" to the Jews as a homeland after the horrors of the Holocaust. It isn't that simple. It never was. This very personal story of Elias Chacour is told in a way most people can understand and empathize with and, hopefully, will add strength to the movement toward peace in that region.
De-dehumanizing Palestinians
Customer Rating:
Blood Brothers is a poignant biography of the experiences of Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian who lived through the violent and traumatic events surrounding the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and the ensuing political conflict that plagues the region still today.
I found myself teary-eyed at several points throughout this book. The most powerful parts were the detailed descriptions of how Chacour, his family, and his village of Biram, were led out of their homes by Israeli soldiers with promises that Biram would be defended against ravaging militants. When Chacour and his village returned they discovered that they had been deceived, and eventually, the village was bulldozed. Chacour tells the story of his own village, but notes that the same story unfolded in other Palestinian villages.
Chacour tells of how Palestinians and Jews lived in peace with one another for centuries before the early 20th century. With the success of the Zionist movement and the horrible atrocities of WW2 and the holocaust, European Jews began emigrating en masse to Palestine. Ironically, while Western nations strongly supported Jewish immigration into Palestinian on the basis that they needed a homeland (Chacour fully accepts that they needed a place to live in peace and security as they were clearly unwelcome in Europe), Western states refused Jews entry into their own nations.
Chacour emphasizes that between WW1 and WW2, the peaceful and violent tactics of Palestinians fail to gain them any sympathy in the international arena, whose leaders ignored Palestinian diplomacy while continually urging Palestinians to accept their Jewish brethren while European states had persecuted them and refused to make amends by opening Jewish immigration quotas.
Utterly mind-boggling is the fact that he has been called an anti-semite by some reviews on Amazon. Anyone who reads this book will see that he exhibits a deep love and admiration for Jews, and expresses heartfelt sympathy for the persecution of Jews throughout European history and culminating in the holocaust. Chacour points out that these sad facts only make the Palestinian plight more ironic.
At times, I felt Chacour depends too much on the kindness and good nature of human beings, and that this made his political opinions somewhat naive. By the end of the book, however, I concluded that this was not a fair conclusion. He understands very well that Palestinians were persecuted and that Israel has a right to exist, but he doesn't believe violence ever leads to peace. Whether this opinion is very naive or very wise is up to the reader to decide.
Lastly, one should always be skeptical when reading personal accounts of political conflicts. One man can only see so much, and if one wants to really discover the facts of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, one has to read several books. This is not a book of facts, but it is not intended to be. Thousands of books on the history of this conflict have been written, and any earnest and disinterested endeavor to learn about what actually happened will not result in much confusion as to what occurred (is occurring). Note that there is no devoid of personal stories and ethnographies either, although I would very people have ever read these, even though they would do everyone some good. But this is a rich addition to the literature, in that it successfully de-dehumanizes the Palestinian people and avoids anything but the most basic historical political facts.
AWESOME READING
Customer Rating:
This book as assigned to my son for reading for an online class. I picked it up and starting reading it to help him and got glued to its pages. Easy and quick reading.
Loved it
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This is an incredible, heart-touching book that helps one understand the Israeli and Palestinian conflict much better than just what you see on the news. Incredible morals are woven through the book too.
A story of true hope and peace
Customer Rating:
Blood Brothers is the story of a very brave family during an incredibly controversial time. This conflict between Israel and Palestine is an ongoing struggle and causes a large amount of change and strife on both sides of the issue. As native Palestinians this family, the Chacour's, are part of this difficult journey with their village. This struggle beginning with them being tricked out of their house to losing some village members and the heartbreak of knowing life could never go back to "normal."
This book revolves around a young boy who we see grow up throughout the book named, Elias Chacour. He is a Palestinian Christian, who lived in a small town Biram for most of his young life. This boy is full of life and a spirit that grows throughout the entire story.
His father, a peaceful man with incredible amounts of wisdom, plays a large role in this Elias's life as well as rest of his family and the village. At one point Elias's father and two brothers were torn from their family and taken away by Israeli soldiers. After finding their way back this is all he did, "turning those sad eyes upon us, `if someone hurts you, you can curse him. But this would be useless. Instead, you have to ask the Lord to bless the man who makes himself your enemy. And do you know what will happen? The Lord will bless you with inner peace-and perhaps your enemy will turn from his wickedness. If not, the Lord will deal with him.'"
The strength Elias's finds within himself and family to deal with these real issues that surround him is inspiring. This is a characteristic that we should all strive to have.
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