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Modern Bethlehem seems to have undergone a remarkable transformation compared to the rural outpost depicted in the accounts of Jesus’ birth. The cave where Mary gave birth to her holy child is now a shrine within an elaborate Armenian monastery, and over the intervening centuries, a bustling city has emerged among the shepherds’ hills. However, Matt Beynon Rees’s The Collaborator of Bethlehem, which is based on true events related to the decades-long conflict among local Jews, Christians, and Muslims, reveals that human nature remains unchanged. Where there is oppression, rebellion follows; and where there is rebellion, there are those who would betray their own countrymen to gain favor with the ruling class. There will always be a Judas and a “pure, communal hatred and vengefulness.” Omar Yussef, a local school teacher on the verge of retirement, discovers that his dear friend is accused of murder. Horrified, Yussef begins to search for evidence at the crime scene that implicates the worst of the city’s criminal gang lords. When presented with the evidence, the local authorities admit their reluctance to pursue the investigation, fearing further violence in retaliation. Yussef’s friend, clearly innocent but without political allies, will be made to take the blame instead. It is simply easier this way. Thankfully, just as in Jesus’ time, there will always be someone like Yussef who, driven by love and a passion for justice, is willing to set aside their own safety to expose the truth. This novel, aside from its entertainment value as a mystery, is significant for those far removed from the Palestinian-Jew-Christian conflict in this part of the world. All sides of the struggle are sympathetically represented through the relationships between characters that cross cultural lines. We all have much to learn from one another, but obviously, we must first stop shooting at each other.
