Zakhariya Abu Aita, aged 90 from Beit Sahour discussing the Ottoman period and World War I

He discusses the following: Ottoman period; looting that took place during World War I; some people emigrated to Jordan (Madaba, Karak and Salt); only the farmers stayed behind; Ottomans used to steal people’s food; military conscription; spread of deadly diseases; women’s lives during the war in Bethlehem and Beit Sahour – they used to collect animal dung, especially from buffalos that the Ottoman army kept in the Latin convent to use for transportation.

Original audio recording: cassette tape Transcript: word for word. In the original collection at Bethlehem University this cassette tape was categorised as File 4 of Box 13. 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.