Muhammad Adaweha, aged 94 from Joret al-Shama' near Bethlehem; and Yusra Shakhtour discussing Ottoman period and World War I

Muhammad Adaweha (94 years old from Joret al-Shama') and Yusra Shakhtour interviewed by Sahar Shakhtour on 20 June 1998.

He discusses the following: injustice of Ottoman rule and how they took people’s food, especially from farmers; Ta‘amra Bedouin tribes were exempted from conscription in World War I as well as those who married women from the Ta‘amra; locust plague and how much people suffered; Sherif Hussein of Mecca brought the British to Palestine; when the British and the Jews came they made the people of Bethlehem sign in the white book; during World War I men from al-Khader were conscripted into the military; poverty of the people caused them to eat dead camels; women used to collect wood and coal to sell to people in Bethlehem and Beit Jala; when the Ottoman army used to come to take men from al-Khader for conscription they had to turn back because the houses were too close together.

Yousra Shakhtour discusses the following: affirms the injustice of Ottoman rule; poverty and starvation of World War I.

Original audio recording: cassette tape.

Transcript: summary.

In the original collection at Bethlehem University this cassette tape was categorised as File 2 of Box 9.

This fileset exists as part of the Ottoman Empire and World War I collection within the Bethlehem University Oral History project of the Planet Bethlehem Archive.