My Roots Are Deep in Palestine by Ibrahim Ebeid 

  My Roots Are Deep in Palestine by Ibrahim Ebeid 
Ed. Jeff Archer, Alternative Publishing 2018
The saga of Ibrahim Ebeid starts with the days of “Saladin” (Salah-ed-deen) and the defeat of the Crusaders in the 12th Century AD through the long period of Ottoman occupation all the way through the current Jewish occupation.
His personal tale takes him out of his homeland, forcibly expelled along with a million or so other Palestinians when the Zionists evicted them, through the US Army and ultimately marriage to a supportive and elegant Cuban lady and finally to Chicago, where he continues to hold forth on behalf of Arab causes.
We learn of Moualem Suleiman, adviser to “Saladin” and of another Ebeid ancestor Jiryis, chased out of Palestine by the autocratic Turkish colonizers.
The volume is peppered with photos that bring the story to life. The book’s layout confirms Jeff Archer as a master of his craft. Ibrahim came from a Christian background and one photo shows him in his robe at the seminary. His family and forbears are displayed along with family homes in Ramleh, Birzeit, and Jaffa. Also to be seen are colleagues from the heyday of Ba’athism, which is placed in its historical context as a primary vivifier of Arab Nationalism. Ba’athists were very active in America, issuing their paper “al-Moharer”, “The Liberator”. Ibrahim was in the thick of the mix.
The episodes of Zionist terrorism towards the Palestinians are recounted and illustrated, including the destruction of Deir Yassin and the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. ibrahim was a young activist in the early days when Ba’athism was a popular driving force of Arab freedom struggles.
Ebeid wound up. in the US Army and relates his unwillingness to subordinate himself to its demands. He flares up at those who disrespect him. His response to a sergeant who showed racist contempt for Arabs was to exclaim “Fuck you. I am an Arab. Respect yourself”.
The “media” will be unreceptive and ignoring Ibrahim’s story precisely because this memoir is a corrective to the hegemonic fairy tales which glorify Jewish conquest and minimize Palestinian suffering in their triumphalist accounts. Here is a book that tells the other side of the story, what really happened, and continues to unfold. Fast-moving and very readable, this is a valuable addition to the literature on a very obscured subject. Ibrahim Ebeid is uniquely qualified to bring the true situation to light, and he does in his own forthright voice.