Khalil Attallah, Abdullah Hamdan and Hanya Teyah discussing the Ottoman period and World War I

Khalil Attallah, Abdullah Hamdan and Hanya Teyah interviewed by Fared Yousef. <br>They discuss the following: Ottoman rule in Bethlehem during World War I; Palestinian economic situation couldn’t handle the war; Ottoman authorities stole from the people; trade and industry declined; when the Ottomans entered the war the situation worsened; spread of disease and the locust plague destroyed all the food; forced military conscription – Arabs who were recruited were treated badly and some ran away but those who were caught were killed; Ottomans used to cut down the trees to use as fuel for the trains – this worsened the starvation; when the locusts came people used to bury their food in a hole in the ground; when there was a lack of water diseases spread more quickly; drought of 1916 caused great unrest as people were demanding bread; people used to share their food with those who didn’t have enough to eat. <br>Original audio: 2 cassette tapes. Transcript: summary. In the original collection at Bethlehem University these cassette tapes were categorised as File 7a and 7b of Box 1. <br>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.