Michel Berouti, 1861–1932: A Notable in Jaffa
Most of what I’ve learned about Michel Berouti comes from sifting through a large number of sources, including church records from Saint Anthony’s Latin Church in Jaffa, historical books, official documents, and old newspapers. These findings helped me piece together this short profile of who he was.
Michel Berouti, undated picture.
Family Life
Michel Berouti was the eldest son of Nicolas Yacoub Berouti and Marie Regina Farajallah. Michel was born in Jaffa on November 16, 1861. He married Julia Araktingi, the daughter of Anton Araktingi and Mariana Khayath, on February 14, 1888. Archival records from Saint-Anthony’s Latin church in Jaffa indicate that, before marrying Michel, Julia wedded Yacoub Gelat four years earlier in April 1884. However, Yacoub died a few short months later, in August 1884, in what can only be presumed to be a tragic and unexpected death.
Julia Araktingi and Yacoub Gelat’s marriage record, 27 April, 1884.
Yacoub Gelat’s death record, 12 August, 1884. He died at 36. His father was Antoine Gelat.
It appears that Julia and Michel knew each other from a very young age, as Julia’s father, Anton Araktingi, was Michel’s godfather at his baptism, as well as the godfather of Michel’s three younger brothers. This points to a long-standing and close relationship between the Berouti and Araktingi families.
Unfortunately, Michel and Julia were no strangers to loss. In fact, they endured more than their fair share of grief, having lost five of their ten children. In 1891, they lost their second-born son, Victor, at just eight months old. In 1895, their fourth child, François, died at the age of five. A year later, in 1896, their fifth child, Claire, passed away at only 40 days old. Ten years after that loss, in 1906, their youngest son, Maurice, died at the age of one. Finally, in 1916, tragedy struck again with the death of their 14-year-old daughter, also named Claire. Julia passed away the following year, in 1917, at the age of 51. One can’t help but wonder whether the loss of her teenage daughter was simply too much to bear.
Death record of Claire Berouti, 14 years old - daughter of Julia Araktingi and Michel Berouti.
Professional Life
Fortunately, on a professional level, life turned out much more favorably for Michel and Julia. Archival records reflect a pattern of sustained prosperity and success. Michel Berouti was a prominent orange grower and exporter in Jaffa, owning 51 hectares of orange groves by 1922. His orchards produced approximately 50,000 crates annually, equivalent to around 7 million oranges. He also served as the Jaffa agent for the shipping company Prince Line, exporting a substantial portion of his harvest to international markets such as Liverpool and Odessa.
In addition to his citrus enterprise, Michel owned a four-hectare banana plantation that generated about 50,000 French francs annually. Notably, he is credited with introducing the Cavendish banana to Palestine, having brought it from the Canary Islands. This variety continued to be cultivated in Israel after the Nakba.
Michel’s articles on the economic situation in Palestine, published in various Arabic and English newspapers, reveal his strong grasp of economic data and his fondness for using numbers to support his arguments.
Political Life
I was fascinated to discover that Michel was also deeply engaged in political life. He was an ardent opponent of political Zionism and seemed to have advocated for binationalism.
In 1903, Michel became Jaffa’s interim — and first Christian — mayor after Mahmoud Efendi Mohammad Abu al-Huda was deposed by Governor Osman Kazim. In 1920, he was appointed to the Advisory Council (a body established by the High Commissioner, Herbert Samuel) as one of ten local members, including three Christians. Michel served as the representative of Jaffa’s Catholic community. The seven other appointees were four Muslims and three Jews.
In 1923, Michel was elected as a special representative of Jaffa’s Christians to the 6th Palestinian National Congress, where he eventually served as vice president. During his tenure, one of the key resolutions passed was the boycott of Pinhas Rutenberg’s electricity project. According to his obituary in Falastin newspaper, Michel was reportedly the last resident still holding out on the Rutenberg electricity boycott, a detail that filled me with pride.
Sixth Palestinian National Congress, Jaffa, 1923. I wonder where Michel Berouti is in this photo. He was 61 years old at the time. Based on the apparent age of the participants and noting from Michel’s obituary in Falastin that he suffered from (unspecified) “neural paralysis,” one individual (encircled in red) seems to match both of those details — especially as he is holding a cane in his right hand. Still, this remains only a tentative identification based on limited information.
You can read some of Michel Berouti’s written pieces here.
Sources:
Saint Anthony Catholic Church Parish Registers, 1778–1982. Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Digitized by FamilySearch.org.
Parmentier, Paul. “L'Agriculture en Syrie: III — Arboriculture fruitière et viticulture.” Revue de botanique appliquée et d'agriculture coloniale 2, no. 8 (April 30, 1922): 146–156.
Rokach, Yitzhak. Tales from the Orchards. Ramat Gan: Masada Press, 1970.
Report on Palestine Administration, July 1920–December 1921. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1922.
“Arab Leader Appeals to Jews to Return to Pre-War Status.” The Reform Advocate, October 6, 1923, 268.
Falastin, December 31, 1932, 7.
Falastin, June 19, 1923.
Büssow, Johann. Hamidian Palestine: Politics and Society in the District of Jerusalem, 1872–1908. Leiden: Brill, 2011.