Taysir (Tass) Saada grew up a Palestinian refugee. Tossed by the winds of change, his family suffered mistreatment and ridicule in a culture that equates land ownership with honor. His family’s treatment as second-class citizens and the lack of control over their own destiny provided the fuel for young Taysir’s rebellion against authority and his hatred towards the Jewish people from a young age. This volatile combination propelled him into the ranks of a Palestinian liberation movement -- Fatah -- at a young age. He was soon engaged in guerilla tactics against the Israeli Armed Forces, served as a sniper, and under his own initiative attempted an assassination of a Jordanian prince. As a personal vendetta he casually tossed grenades into the homes of Christians when notified of their presence. Taysir Saada was a man filled with rage.
Once an Arafat Man is Saada’s story. Recounted in first person, past tense, the early parts of his life sound like a quick recitation. Like many autobiographies by those who are not authors by calling, the prose can be pedestrian at times, intense moments lacking in suspense and emotion. However, the events Saada recalls are not those he is proud of, his new life is a far cry from his violent years as a youth. His reluctance to magnify the emotions and intensity of those experiences is understandable.
Being sorely ignorant of the background of current tensions in the Middle East, the first portion of the book served to fill in yawning chasms in my understanding of the situation. As I’m not a military or political aficionado, I moved through these pages slowly, despite the down to earth writing style.
After his father’s manipulations to extricate Taysir from his involvement in Fatah and a brief fallow period, Taysir made his way to America, married, and entered the hospitality industry. He soon adopted the nickname “Tass,” easier for American tongues to pronounce. In his mid-forties Tass came to know Jesus as his Lord in a dramatic, instantaneous conversion experience, the likes of which I’ve never read.
Article comments
1 - RANDY VANDIVER
TASS SAADA, WED AN AMERICAN CAUCASION "KAREN"
AS CHRISTIANS THEY SHOULD READ HEBREWS 12:16 (NT) WHICH CONDEMNS ESAU FOR TAKING FOREIGN SPOUSES ALSO INVESTIGATE BALAAMS TEACHING THAT PAUL WROTE IN 1 COR 10:6-8 WAS A SEXUAL SIN (INTERRACIAL MATING) AND WARNED ALL CHRISTIANS NOT TO INVOKE GODS WRATH FOR THIS SEXUAL SIN. JESUS, PETER AND JUDE ALSO WARNED OF BALAAMS TEACHING (NT)
THE PLAGUE ONLY ENDED WHEN A MIDIANITE WOMAN AND ISRAELITE MALE WHO HAD MATED WERE EXECUTED.
2 - john
As christian there is no long jews and greeks but we are all one in christ. The old testament was separation not of race but from pagan false religion and idolitary. To protect the children of God from falling into the same. Today it is a separation from marriage to a non believer,to protect from falling away from Christ.
3 - Jennifer @ Quiverfull Family
Thanks John, I fully agree with you. All of God's warnings, both Old and New Testament point to avoiding marriage to non-believers. Marriages of the same faith are no problem whatsoever. Ruth and Boaz for example were a 'mixed' marriage, yet their son Obed, became part of the direct lineage leading to the birth of Christ!
God has always warned against marrying unbelievers, but truly - there is NO race. We are all children of God when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Prior to that, we all come from God's initial creation of Adam - from one man all are descended. Skin colour is in NO way an issue in God's eyes Randy.
4 - Ruvy
The difference between killing Jews and stealing their souls for a foreign religion and false faith is that killing someone leaves a nasty stink and a trail of tears; stealing someone's soul only leaves a trail of tears.
That is what the former "Arafat's man" eliminated from his life - the stink of dead bodies in the wake of theft of a life. The trail of tears he causes by trying to convert Jews away from their ancestral faith (if he indeed engages in this activity) is not different from the trail of tears he caused by murdering them.
Jennifer, some of us DO NOT appreciate having our land stolen by foreigners, and the concepts of our faith turned on its head by pagans. Sorry if that sounds offensive in your ears, but some of us are sick of Christians "witnessing" (a concept stolen from us) a false set of ideas and stealing our adherents from us. I see it in Jerusalem when I go there and it sickens me. In MY holy city, at least, such despicable activity should be banned.
5 - Jennifer @ Quiverfull Family
Hi Ruvy,
I certainly don't have the first hand point of view on land issues in the Holy Land that you do. I will be the first to admit that I have a barely functioning level of understanding on these matters.
What I can say with confidence is that Christianity is not a foreign nor a pagan religion :). Jesus/Yeshua/Joshua was born in Bethlehem and died in Jerusalem. Israel is essentially the birthplace of the Christian faith.
A relationship with Jesus is far from a popularity contest, Ruvy. No one is 'stealing' adherents from anyone - don't people have free will? Would you deny them the right to make their own spiritual choices? Living in Canada I find that frightening regardless of the religion/faith path being discussed. I'm all for religious freedoms even though I believe what Jesus said in John 14:6 - "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
I also believe what he says in John 6:44 " No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. "
I know this is true of my conversion experience - God had to draw me to His son, or I never would have come. If what is happening in Jerusalem is truly an act of God drawing His children to Him through His son.
There's nothing more glorious than coming to know Jesus personally, so I doubt the tears you speak of are coming from the eyes of the new believers. They may however be felt by their family, that's no surprise. Christians often experience persecution from their families when they come to faith - nothing new there. When God comes into your heart and changes you, sometimes your family doesn't like it much :). I've experienced that for myself.
In Matthew 10:34 - 37 we find these words from Jesus: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes [shall be] they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."
He knew what would happen when people decided to follow Him. My own husband asked me to forsake my faith after coming to know Christ - it just goes with the territory.
Sorry for the novella Rudy :). You can likely tell that I'm as passionate about following Jesus as you are about land issues in your native land.
Take care,
Jennifer
6 - Ruth
Ruvi,
Jesus, or, Yeshua rather, did not start a 'foreign religion'. He was a Hebrew of the lineage of David, and all His original followers were Jewish. He and all His family were observant Jews - faithful in everything to follow the Law of Moses.
There are people from all walks of life who follow Him (or attempt to follow Him) and, unfortunately, the highest profile ones are Westerners/Gentiles of European descent who have culturally hi-jacked this originally Jewish faith and made it look unrecognizable to the average Jew.
Yeshua did not throw out the Law of Moses and He didn't encourage anyone else to do that, either.
Jesus said,
"Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them. I assure you, until heaven and earth disappear, even the smallest detail of God's law will remain until its purpose is achieved. So if you break the smallest commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God's laws and teaches them will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. "But I warn you - unless you obey God better than the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees do, you can't enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all!"
If you want to read more of His words and judge for yourself.
Can you explain to us what you would expect the Messiah of Israel to look and act like when He comes?