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Said K. Aburish (1 May 1935 - 29 August 2012) was a Palestinian journalist and writer. Born to a Palestinian father and Egyptian mother, Aburish attended school in Jerusalem and Beirut, graduated from the University of Chicago, and earned an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. His first book, Children of Bethany: The Story of a Palestinian Family is just one example of how many Palestinian families have been torn apart by the violent events in Palestine throughout the last century. In his obituary, The Guardian describes Said’s first book as a, “readable book which skillfully mixed personal anecdote and Arab history…” Contrary to much of the Zionist narrative, Palestinian society before the Nakba was vibrant—a tightly woven tapestry of Palestinian Christians, Muslims, and Jews living side by side. The 1920s and 1930s saw life in the village of Bethany as a peaceful, yet poor, agricultural community. The author’s grandfather, Khalil Aburish, was the guardian of the tomb of Lazarus and the book narrates the story of how one of the most influential families in Bethany was ripped apart by setter-colonialism and scattered in the diasport to over 22 countries around the globe. While many family members started new lives elsewhere in the world, the Aburishes who stayed in Bethany watched as their way of life was destroyed by the illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank. |
