Some historians are of the opinion that the Abu Ghoshes came from Eastern Europe. Others believe that their origins go back to the Crusaders who came to Jerusalem with Richard I of England in the 12th century AD, due to the fact that many of them have blond hair and blue eyes. Members of the family and some other historians hold the view that the clan originally came from the Arabian Peninsula. They were four Emirs of Yemen, who were brothers, when they arrived to Egypt. From Egypt they came to Palestine with the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman at the beginning of the Ottoman Empire and were entrusted with the control of the pilgrimage route to the holy places of Jerusalem, as documented in the Egyptian royal manuscripts.