THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM An Omar Yussef Mystery By Matt Beynon Rees Soho. 264 pp. $22 The journalist Matt Beynon Rees begins his first novel by introducing us to two Palestinian friends, Omar Yussef and George Saba, as they talk in their West Bank village near Bethlehem. Yussef is 56 and teaches hisory in a refugee camp sponsored by the United Nations. Saba, Yussef's former student, is an antiques dealer in his mid-30s. Neither man has much use for religion or for the so-called Martyrs Brigade, a militia that controls their village. Of religion, Saba comments, "God knows, if there were no Bible and no Koran, how much happier would our troubled little town be?" Of the Martyrs Brigade, Yussef declares: "They lead us further into corruption and violence every day, and no one can do anything about it. This town is run by a [expletive] tribe of uneducated bastards who've got the police scared of them." ... -
Man vs. Militia
THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM An Omar Yussef Mystery By Matt Beynon Rees Soho. 264 pp. $22 The journalist Matt Beynon Rees begins his first novel by introducing us to two Palestinian friends, Omar Yussef and George Saba, as they talk in their West Bank village near Bethlehem. Yussef is 56 and teaches hisory in a refugee camp sponsored by the United Nations. Saba, Yussef's former student, is an antiques dealer in his mid-30s. Neither man has much use for religion or for the so-called Martyrs Brigade, a militia that controls their village. Of religion, Saba comments, "God knows, if there were no Bible and no Koran, how much happier would our troubled little town be?" Of the Martyrs Brigade, Yussef declares: "They lead us further into corruption and violence every day, and no one can do anything about it. This town is run by a [expletive] tribe of uneducated bastards who've got the police scared of them." ...-
By Patrick Anderson,