I have just completed reading this book a second time and I became compelled to write a review. The book is fantastic! I would love to see this book as reading material in high school classrooms. I would have loved to have it as a reading assignment when I was in high school. It teaches that we are all capable of being compassionate towards others and capable of building a greater world for all of to live in. I think it goes beyond the religion. To me, this book is right there on the list next to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Both are must reads for all. If only the American media actually reported news, we would all know of all the things that happen in the world, instead of just hearing a bias viewpoint.

"All countries keep their citizens oppressed to one degree or another. The countries that are best at it are better at hiding it from their citizens."

I have just completed reading this book a second time and I became compelled to write a review. The book is fantastic! I would love to see this book as reading material in high school classrooms. I would have loved to have it as a reading assignment when I was in high school. It teaches that we are all capable of being compassionate towards others and capable of building a greater world for all of to live in. I think it goes beyond the religion. To me, this book is right there on the list next to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Both are must reads for all. If only the American media actually reported news, we would all know of all the things that happen in the world, instead of just hearing a bias viewpoint.

"All countries keep their citizens oppressed to one degree or another. The countries that are best at it are better at hiding it from their citizens."

I bought this to support this peace maker in Israel. He operates the largest private school in Israel and has both Israeli and Palestinian students in class. It works.

In Blood Brothers, Abuna mentions the massacre/mass grave in Gish very briefly. Abuna's motivation has been, and continues to be the search (and work) for peace. Yet there are those who dispute him because the truth is too hard to swallow. Abuna does not write a polemic and is not apologetic in his views. He simply and deeply wants peace. I am not a religious person at all, but I am from Gish. Members of my family in 1948 were instructed by jewish soldiers to collect the dead bodies from roof tops and narrow alleys and move them to the mass burial place in Gish. All of us kids [of Gish] knew where that spot was and we never played near it. Some people will accept the truth only when it fits their beliefs. But unless we learn from history and come to terms with certain atrocities (both palestinian and israeli), peace has no chance.

In Blood Brothers, Abuna mentions the massacre/mass grave in Gish very briefly. Abuna's motivation has been, and continues to be the search (and work) for peace. Yet there are those who dispute him because the truth is too hard to swallow. Abuna does not write a polemic and is not apologetic in his views. He simply and deeply wants peace. I am not a religious person at all, but I am from Gish. Members of my family in 1948 were instructed by jewish soldiers to collect the dead bodies from roof tops and narrow alleys and move them to the mass burial place in Gish. All of us kids [of Gish] knew where that spot was and we never played near it. Some people will accept the truth only when it fits their beliefs. But unless we learn from history and come to terms with certain atrocities (both palestinian and israeli), peace has no chance.

Elias Chacour is a man of peace and a man of God. He has been awarded the World Methodist Peace Prize for his efforts, as well as many other accolades. He has brought together people of many faiths and races and broken down barriers of hate and discrimination without himself succumbing to these forces. At the same time, he has told the story of Palestine's tragedy just as it is. I am a Palestinian Christian and I can attest to the accuracy of his facts. His Web site (look under Mar Elias College) tells of the great things he and his supporters around the world have done to educate Palestinian youth who were denied the opportunity to learn by the Israeli school system. The review by Lars399 is stilted, particularly as it is influenced by Maronite Christians whose allegiance to Israel and hatred for Palestinians is a well known fact. Lars was duped. This book is a great eye-opener and a useful starting point for understanding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, especially for American Christians who are so influenced by the one-sided media blitz after 9/11 and the Iraq war.

If all people thought and lived like Abuna Chacour war would not exsist. A true follower of Jesus Christ, Abuna truly walks the walk and talks the talk. How can anyone Not read these books and how can anyone having read them not believed every word as gospel? American Christians especially supporters of Zionism need to wake up and realize what they are really supporting. How silly to think that we can hurry the return of Christ by blindly supporting Isreal (the Zionist and their supporters) and their ungodly actions. REALLY humans hurrying the RETURN of Christ? How silly. One must also know that not all Jews in the Middle East support Zionism. One question that needs to be asked is where have all the Christians gone that once lived in the land where Christ walked? People do your research. Are we not told to question/test all things?

The response written by "lars399" reveals to the educated reader that he is misinformed and pushing a (theologically questionable) Zionist agenda.

The facts related in Father Chacour's literature are not only truthful, but mild in comparison to the full facts facing the myths that Israel propogates about its inception. I am very displeased to find that so many people found his review helpful. If one takes a look at his previous record, he also very boldly refutes other scholarly work on the subject, particularly that of Israeli New Historian Tom Segev.

Before taking "lars399"'s word as gospel truth, the reader of this review should spend sometime having a brief history lesson of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the theological underpinnings of Christian Zionism (based in dispensational theology). As a Palestinian (Protestant) Christian who has visited and studied this area, I can attest to the truth of Father Chacour's historical analysis. If you hoping to free yourself from propoganda and theological error, challenging the perceptions that American (Christian Zionists) blindly hold on this issue, Fr. Chacour is a good place to start. Most respected academians and states around the world have recognized this truth-including Israel. It's time Americans started thinking critically and challenging the bias that is so ill-informed.

Love. If anyone can express the idea, emotion and action of the word it is Elias Chacour. I too, have had the honor of meeting this man, who is truly the most normal of peole who has mad ehis life into one giving peace and love to people through hard work. This book expresses the little hope I have to the Palestinian Israeli (pardon my spelling) conflict, and really or the people all over the worl who cannot live together in peace. Hearbreaking and vivid, meaningful more than just literature.

In another book, Blood Brothers, Chacour made up a story about an Israeli Army slaughter of the people of an Arab Christian town (transliterated Jish or Gish) and buried in a shallow grave where 8-year-old Chacour discovered the decomposed bodies.

Journalists went to Gish and spoke with an Arab Christian who was 16-years-old and living in Gish when the the massacre was supposed to have happened. He had never heard of a massacre there, nor had the town historian, who dismissed Blood Brothers.

Chacour claimed his family lived in Baram (about 2 miles from Gish) for a 1,000 years before they had to leave Baram and move to Gish in 1947-48. The historian of Gish said Chacour and his family were latecomers to Baram. Chacour's family were Melkite Christians while most of the families of Baram were Maronite Christians.

Baram was a Jewish community until the mid 1700s. A large synagogue in Baram testifies to this. Sometime in the 1800s Maronite Christians came from Lebanon and settled in the abandoned town and built a church which stands there today.

Baram overlooks the Lebanon border and was one of many Arab villages within a 3 mile wide path along the border whose inhabitants (for security reasons) were relocated farther away from the border.

Two Arabic Christians took the journalists to Baram. It has been preserved as a park and is interesting because of the synagogue and church, and especially interesting are the ancient homes there. The houses were small and closely packed together.

The young men took the journalists to visit the home his family had lived in. It was something like 40 ft. x 40 ft. (maybe less) with two dividing walls (about 3 ft apart) partway across the middle of the house, partially dividing it into 2 rooms. The space between the two walls was used for storage. In the main room toward the back and near the outer wall was a cistern cut into the stone.

Each year former residents of Baram get together at Baram with their families for a picnic to tell about how they loved living there. Indeed it is a magnificently beautiful spot and a wonderful place to see how people lived long ago. Some of the inhabitents want to move back there. If those houses were destroyed and streets paved and cement homes built in their place, the former inhabitants (and mankind) would lose a great historical treasure.

The Arabic Christian inhabitants of Baram that moved to Gish have prospered and have full citizenship in Israel. They now have large expensive homes and the two young men who took us to Baram had attended university in Europe. Chacour pretends to forgive the Israelis for a massacre that (according to residents) didn't happen.

As a Christian, I am disgusted by anyone who would lie to spread Christ's word, particularly in the wake of today's attack on the US, for which an organization supporting the liberation of Palestine claimed credit. Tens of thousands of innocent people were killed, and Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank were dancing in the streets and giving out candy to celebrate.

Chacour expresses beautiful ideas. He also lies. Just remember that liars are not real followers of Christ.