Blood Brothers: The Dramatic Story of a Palestinian Christian Working for Peace in Israel

One of the most helpful books for understanding one of the most difficult places in the world.

I read this book for the first time, many years ago, but its contents are still germane. It tells the primarily autobiographical story of a Palestinian Arab man, who was born before modern Israel's war of independence. He has lived through pre-Israel times, during the war of independence, and of course, many years since that time,. He tells it from an Arab perspective. He has lived his whole life in what is now Israel. He does not whitewash the multidimensional injustices which occurred, and still do occur to some extent, in the Middle East, including in his home village. He has personally suffered much, and yet he is a man of peace in thoughts, word, and deed. It is a valuable book to read.History is full of injustices to individuals and groups. I have had good friends, who were both exiled Palestinian Arabs and Sabra Jews. or in one case an Iraqi Jew. It is possible to have peace and live in harmony, if the people are willing. Just like between individuals, it usually requires, unconditional forgiveness. Try to reset the relationships even in the face of historic real injustices. Father Elias tells us how.At the end of WWII, there were maybe ~13 million ethnic Germans in central and eastern Europe ethnically "cleansed' from their ancestral homelands. These lands are now part of Poland, Russia, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, and other places. When borders were redrawn, there were also Lithuanians, Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians, and other, who had to move. In 1974, a couple hundred thousand Greek Cypriots were driven out of northern Cyprus by the invading Turkish army. In around 1995 there were major war-caused population exchanges done in the nations which formerly were united in Yugoslavia. I have talked with expellees from some of these areas. They all express sorrow, of being forced from their homelands. But the answer in not more wars and forced boundary adjustments, but rather it is hitting the reset button, offering forgiveness, and future boundary change, if any, be done by honest plebiscites of the people. To send your boys out to kill or be killed by somebody else's boys just perpetuates the cycles of premature death and destruction.

This book was so interesting. It really helped me understand the situation in that area of the world better. We all have so much to learn about each other.

This book is stimulating and thought provoking to those who have any interest in the conflict in the Middle East between Jews, Christians and Muslims, Palestinians and not. Unique perspectives I hadn't experienced before. Highly recommend it.

Amazing book for a view into the Palestinian circumstances and how God raised up a peace maker in the middle of it all.

This book should be at the top of anyone's reading list who maintains that they know about the Israeli/Palestinian conflicts that have occurred since the late 1940's. I was so moved by Elias's story, his ability to forgive, and his heart to build bridges of hope instead of retaliation. If one cares about the truth of the ongoing fighting, read this. If one would like to know the full story, read this, you'll not regret it

This is an excellent first-person account of a Palestinian Christian's experience when the Zionists came into his village during his childhood, and his lifelong attempts at reconciliation.

I didn’t read the book, but my friends thought it was a really good book. My friend is from Lebanon raised in the USA born in the USA family is from Lebanon. My friend is Lebanese.

Elias Chacour offers an honest, at times painful, and hope-inspiring account of his life and work as a Palestinian Christian. If there were more people like him, the Middle East and the world would be a far better place.

All war is horrible, but, sadly, sometimes much of the press can present what is essentially rather one-sided biased (jaundiced?) reporting. There can be no justification for so called 'collateral damage'. This account is clearly a factual recounting of one person's real life experience and it is very sobering.