Preserve the Roots

The Ishaq family originated from the Arab tribes of the kingdom of the Ghassanids. The Ghassanids (Arabic: الغساسنة) were a group of South Arabian Christian tribes that emigrated in the early 3rd century from Yemen to the Hauran in southern Syria, Jordan and Palestine where they intermarried with Hellenized Roman settlers and Greek-speaking Early Christian communities. It is believed that the Ghassanids left the city of Marib in Yemen due to a flood in the early 3rd century.

One of villages of Ghassanid in Wadi Musa in the Jordan Valley was Qizhit El-Bint. The grand father of the Ishaq family Daoud used to live in this village.

In the year 1630 during the Ottoman empire Daoud immigrated from his village to Beit Sahour. Daoud settled down in Beit Sahour and established the Qazaha family, which includes many families besides Ishaq.

Daoud had two sons: Habbas and Issa. Habbas had three sons: Salim, Ibrahim and Elias. Elias in turn had three sons: Salameh, Hanna and Ishaq, who is the grand father of the current Ishaq family.

The majority of the family members still live in Beit Sahour, Palestine and belong to of Arab Christian Greek Orthodox community. However, a large branch of the family tree moved to Amman, Jordan and many family members moved to the USA. A few family members live in Iraq.