How Palestinian Noir Written by a Welshman Relates to the Samaritans

One of the most unique tangentially related topics I have stumbled upon while researching the Samaritans has been my discovery of the Palestinian Noir written by a Welshman genre. Of course, given the blog's name, this post will be covering how it relates to the Samaritan nation. 

While compiling as many sources as possible when starting research for this blog, I found one fascinating anomaly. 

I was looking for books on the Samaritans and was being met with non-promising results. My first task was to sort out the plethora of Christian books that used the Samaritans' name, in conjunction of course with the story of "The good Samaritan". After I had filtered through all the Christian books I was mostly met with extremely overpriced and questionably reliable books on the Samaritans. I realized that my blog would mostly have to rely on internet sources. There was some good which came out of this search, however, as I soon found a novel titled "The Samaritan's Secret." My first reaction when reading this description was profound confusion and amusement. I will paste it below. 

"No crime, whether a theft or murder, is an isolated event in Palestine; it's an intersection of religious, cultural and political issues, as shown in Rees's absorbing third Omar Yussef mystery (after 2008's A Grave in Gaza). Omar Yussef, a 57-year-old history teacher, becomes immersed in finding who killed Ishaq, a member of the tiny, ancient Samaritan community on the outskirts of Nablus. While his fellow Samaritans didn't respect Ishaq, he controlled millions of dollars of government money through his job at the Palestinian Authority—money that's now missing. Unless the funds can be found, the World Bank will cut off all financial aid to Palestine. If the quiet Yussef stretches believability as a sleuth, Rees excels in capturing the essence of Palestine, from the claustrophobic casbah with its myriad scents to the harsh beauty of the countryside. Rees vividly illustrates daily Palestinian life, where violence is a constant threat and religious attitudes permeate each decision."

This is very dramatic. I decided to buy the book out of curiosity. My first impression was not a positive one. From reading the back alone I was expecting a quite mediocre noir novel that capitalized on the Samaritans' precarious position and famous name.

I then chose to research the author, which was another fascinating rabbit hole in its own right. From the beginning, I was surprised by the series's reach and popularity. Both the author, Matt Rees, and his character, Omar Yusseff (who I am inclined to like as we share the same name) had their own Wikipedia pages.

Matt Rees is an author and journalist who seems to know a good deal about the Middle East (or Israel/Palestine more specifically). He lived in Jerusalem for 20 years and served as a high profile journalist during the intifadas. This was all very interesting, but what made it all the more fascinating to me was that he was not a native of the area. Given that Rees was neither Israeli, Palestinian or Jewish and most certainly not Samaritan, he did not seem to have any "skin in the game" so to speak. 

At this point, I was very intrigued. I did a short bit of research and soon got the impression that his books were mostly well-received by Palestinians. The only negative review I could find was a quite scathing review from a man I have decided to dub a "Philistinophile" or "Philo-Philistini" if you'd rather. I do not want to give his name here, because I am discussing another man's book and don't want this aside to be mistaken for slander. That being said, I found his review quite amusing. He seemed to have much less exposure to Palestine than Matt Rees with the author of this scathing review's only credentials seeming to be that he married a Palestinian woman. Palestine must have been close to his heart, if not so much to his head. 

After my bit of research, I finally got around to reading Matt Rees's novel. I was pleasantly surprised. Although a bit tropy, and containing some uncomfortable jokes about marrying multiple women the book was quite fun to read. It was Palestinian pulp, but entertaining Palestinian pulp none the less. 

The book acts as a condiment to explore the Samaritans and while it was an informative introduction to someone with no knowledge of their community, I found its portrayal unflattering to the Samaritans. Rees grasped at seeds of truth to form the story. He built it largely around a news story about how local Arabs had stolen a Samaritan holy book and attempted to ransom it. The small community was unable to afford the price and the Palestinian authority was of no assistance. 

His critiques of corruption in the West Bank seemed to be largely accurate but his attitude towards the Samaritans not so much. 

For one, the two most prominent Samaritan characters (one of whom was dead for the entirety of the story despite like in any good Noir novel) were both villains in some way or another. The Samaritans were portrayed as wicked, backward, and inbred and as someone with a great deal of sympathy for the community, I felt somewhat vicariously insulted. 

All in all, the book's background was as interesting as the novel itself and I would recommend you read it. If you want actual good information on the Samaritans, however, I'd recommend you visit their website or read my blog instead. 

Here is a link to an overly dramatic youtube video in which Mr. Rees discusses his novel: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Wg6KpZ_iw