Source:  Elly Motro, Elieser's wife, wanted to make sure her husband's story was told.  In her last years, while suffering from cancer, she wrote down his story.  The following was transcribed from her handwritten notes.
 

When Palestine was under the Ottoman Empire (~ 1918), the Turks battled the English during the end of World War I (see Sinai and Palestine Campaign).  One day the Motro family had an order from the Turks to leave Tel-Aviv, because the war was coming and they could not protect them.  Chaim, Elieser's father, hired a big carriage with two horses to escape.  (Chaim was born in 1878, thus 40 years old at the time.)  First they moved to Petach-Tikva, a city north east of Tel Aviv.  There were so many refugees there that there was no place to stay.  A kind farmer let them stay in a barn for two days. 

After two days, the British advanced so much that the family fled to Jerusalem.  Chaim with his big family could not move fast.  When they reached Jerusalem, Chaim found a house where they could live on top of the souk (market).  From there they could hear the bombs of the British attack.  The situation for the family was very tight.  No work or income.  Once Elieser (2 years old) ran down to the market, just for fun, and on his way found a bag which made noise when he shook it.  He took it home and said he found a shell.  His mother opened the bag and found enough money to feed the family until their return to Tel Aviv, a year later.  When they reached their home it there were British officers living in it.  Chaim told them that he had a large family and it is not right to occupy his home.  The British were kind and gave the family two rooms until the British could move out completely.  When the British left the home it was a lucky day for the family because the officers left oil, salt, sugar and flour.  The Motro family started their life again. 

At first, Esther (Elieser's mom) baked biscuits.  The family sat on the veranda to eat them.  A British officer walked by, smelled the goodies and asked to buy some.  For a few weeks, Esther baked and sold biscuits for a shilling each. 

Each Pesach and Succoth (Spring and Fall), all the children got new clothes.  A seamstress came to the house every day for a few weeks and made dressed for the 5 girls.  The boys got bought clothes.  A shoemaker came and measured all the 8 kids feet and they all got new shoes.  When a kid complained of a hurt, the shoemaker told them it would hurt less later.

Before the state of Israel existed (1948), there were pogroms against Jews in Europe, as shown in the movie "Fiddler on the Roof".  First came the pogroms in Russia, causing many to flee to Palestine.  The wealthy Rothschild Family, spread over France, Israel and London, built houses and vineyards in Israel to give work to Jews.  The Rothschilds built a village, Mikve Israel, with a school that taught young Jews to grow grapes and oranges.  The land was desert everywhere - Tel Aviv did not yet exist.  The Motro family home was at Neve Tsedek, between Jaffa and what is now Tel Aviv.  After the first streets were built, Chaim built a home there.  Elieser went to a school of Alliance Francaise, where he learned to speak French.  Sami, Elieser's younger brother, went to an American high school in Lebanon. 

The industrious and thrifty Jewish immigrants started buying land from the Arabs.  The Rothschilds put up the money and construction started in the desert to build Tel-Aviv.  The Arabs resented the Jewish presence.  They felt themselves pushed out and many left for Jordan, Lebanon and Syria which did not receive the Palestinians with open arms.  As a result, the Arabs that stayed started pogroms against the Jews.  The Hagana (the Jewish army) sent Elieser to the Mosque to spy so he could warn the army about Arab plans for pogroms.  He understood Arabic well and would listen to what the Arabs were saying.  He knew how to dress as an Arab also. 

Chaim Motro (Elieser's father) had a store and grew and sold Etrogim (a kind of lemon).  Etrogim were grown for the festival of Sukkot.  For Sukkot, people built a little suka in the yard, a little hut, a few poles and a roof of twigs.  For decoration, the lemons were hung to signify a festival of fall.  The Etrogim were wrapped in linen for transport.  Chaim had agents in Europe.  The center of this business was Trieste, Italy.  Fruit came from various regions and was shipped by boat.  Chaim often travelled to Europe for this business. 

Also, Chaim had a wholesale store, on Rue Bustros (Bustros Street) in Jaffa, Israel, which sold imported goods such as clothes, perfume, toys, shoes.  Elieser also worked in this store.  They sold to small stores, mostly (3/4) to Arabs in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, but also (1/4) to Jews.  They had good relationships with their customers, often there was no written contract, just a handshake. 

Chaim was honorary consul to Austria at the time there was the Emperor Franz Josef.  Chaim spoke Arabic, French and Spanish.

When Elieser was a teen, he started helping in the store.  He loved it.  Chaim really liked politics better - he was also in the City Council and involved in local politics.  In the long run, Elieser ran most of the store.  As a teen, Elieser and his friends would travel on donkeys.  They built their own kayaks to go into the Mediterranean.
 

Another time, when there was a pogrom, Elieser was at his father's store in Bustros street.  He heard that there was an Arab demonstration nearby but ignored it.  At 11am, they saw Arabs shouting in the street, carrying knives, yelling, "Kill the Jews".  Elieser sent his employees home and closed the door.  After a few minutes, the Arabs were close to the store.  Right away one of Elieser's Arab friends took his kafiah (headdress), put it on Elieser's head and ran with him to the end of the street where there was protection of the Barclay's Bank.  At that event Arabs killed many Jews until the Haganah (Jewish Army) stopped it. 

Elieser visited the Bedouin close to Beer Sheva.  They invited him to stay overnight in their tent.  The Bedouin have very comfortable tents, double cloth with air in between for circulation, keeping the tents cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  In the mornings, the Bedouin came with a camel to milk it, providing a cup of fresh milk for every person.  An Arab girl would come and burn coffee that you could smell from far away so everybody wanted some coffee.  It is heavy coffee, strong with lots of sugar.  One of the Bedouin became very friendly with Eleiser.  As a gift, he offered Eleieser a young Bedouin girl in marriage.  This was a big honor.  "I cannot remember how I got out of this without offending the Bedouin," said Elieser but they did stay good friends.

The Motro family was religious, made much of each holiday, but not fanatic.  There was a lovely atmosphere in their home.  Often they had guests for dinner, which was quite a crowd, considering they had 8 children at the table already.  At the Passover Seder, poor people were invited for dinner.  Also on Shabbat, after synagogue, Chaim brought poor people from the synagogue home for a meal. 

Once Chaim said to Elieser, "Son I want to show you something".  Right before Yom Kippur, they went to a street where the poor lived.  Chaim knocked at the door and put some money into somebody's hand, then closed the door.  He did not want to see the face or be seen, to avoid shaming them.  They repeated this at 10 or 12 doors, saying "Shana Tova" (a "good year") at each and left.  Elieser learned from this and always has helped people.
 

Once I went to the market with Elieser's mother.  Ima (mother) bought a live chicken, then when to a room where a "shochet" turned the neck of the chicken.  After that we sat at benches in that room and plucked the chicken.  I could not do it.  Because the "shochet" had turned the neck, it was kosher!  Ima (Esther) could not understand that I knew nothing at all about this tradition.  Then the family sent Aaron Dubitzky to Holland to see where I came from.  He and my father got along very well.  So the report was positive!

In 1958, Elieser and I got married in Israel.  We were married in a little room and the person performing the ceremony could do the Jewish and regular words at the same time.  We brought two witnesses.  It took only 10 minutes, but we had to wait for someone from prison to get married first..  Afterwards, Elieser's sister laid a beautiful festive table with many goodies and flowers.