Birzeit Family Tree
Our family history, for us and by us. Rooted in Birzeit, connected across the world.
The next chapter belongs to all of us
The foundation of this tree was last substantially updated in the year 2000. It grew from Musa Allush’s handwritten historical family archive and the extensive work Saleem and Wisam Daoud put into digitizing, checking and expanding it.
Now it belongs to a wider community effort. Help add the women, welcome spouses from every hometown, and connect the generations that were not captured, in Birzeit and across the diaspora. Every family can help bring this shared history to life.
Completely free. A community service, for us and by us.
How it works
Open My account to find members, manage your profile and track contributions. Choose “This is me” on your card to save your place. Shared email addresses appear on linked person cards and in Members. You can turn email sharing off in My profile.
Stewards are volunteer family caretakers. They welcome new members, review contributions and help resolve disagreements. Please allow 24 hours for a reply across time zones.
Everyone can explore the real family connections and historical names. Recent and unclassified people remain unnamed until you join. Members may choose to share images with names within three relationship steps. Join free to see recent details, add relatives and suggest corrections.
Every part of our family
Earlier trees largely followed male lineage. We are making women and their stories visible, and welcoming spouses from every town and country. Family origin records where a family comes from; birthplace records where a person was born. Both matter for our diaspora.
Musa Allush
1990s and earlier
Musa Allush was a Birzeit pharmacist, local historian and collector who devoted years to preserving the town’s memory. His handwritten family trees form the historical foundation of this project. His wider collection is preserved in the Palestinian Museum Digital Archive.
Saleem Daoud & Wisam Daoud
Around the year 2000
Around the year 2000, Saleem and Wisam Daoud were techies in Birzeit who wanted to preserve its history and help its people keep in touch. They scanned and digitized Musa Allush’s handwritten trees, checked and refreshed the information as far as they could, and added many relatives beyond the original historical archive. This was part of the wider Keep In Touch project, which brought together local history, photographs and culture through a website and CD-ROM. The tree remains a living part of that effort.
Preserved, rebuilt, reconnected
2026 · a living shared history
The archive has been recovered and rebuilt as this bilingual family map. It was a historical record even in 2000, with many relatives still to be added. The next chapter is for all of Birzeit to build together, especially by adding women, spouses and the generations that were not captured.
© 2026 Birzeit Family Tree. A community project, for us and by us. Contributors retain their rights; shared material is used under our contribution terms. Original collection and third-party rights remain with their holders.