The paper presents a new approach for analyzing the characteristics and transformations of an important Middle Eastern institution, the elite family. Powerful families provided the foundation for most of the area's elites, and still are a component in socio-political arenas. A common misconception of elite families in the Fertile Crescent is that they were monolithic and passive actors whose fate was determined by external forces. The paper takes issue with this approach and argues that elite families are complex organizations. Hence, their behavior and ability to adapt to changing realities, and therefore to maintain their status, should be analyzed by focusing on three parameters. The first is the organization's aims, the specific character of which (pursuing economic strength, political power, or both) shaped the other two parameters, structure and strategy. Structure was reflected by the distribution of power within the family and the density of its internal ties. Strategy was reflected by the topology of the family's connections to external bases of support, and also in the composition of these bases. The paper uses case studies of two Palestinian elite families, the Ja?abaris from Hebron and the al-Masris from Nablus, to examine comparatively how they have developed, and how they have coped with the historical shifts experienced by the Palestinians throughout the 20th century. The paper demonstrates how a systematic tracing of changes in the families' internal and external networks can be used as a prism for extracting three historiographical outcomes: The first reveals the strengths and weaknesses in each of the two families' organizations and explains how these impacted their ability to cope with changes. The second identifies transformations at the families' characteristics (aims, structure and strategy) over the years. The third reveals broader historical processes through the story of each family. Without ignoring the particularity of the Palestinian case study, the paper aims for a broader discussion about the elite family as a pan-Middle Eastern institute. The paper wishes to contribute to the long-standing discourse on 'Politics of Notables’ by encouraging individual exploration of the diverse networks that supported elite families. This should help explain why some families managed to maintain their status while others did not. The sources for this study include wide range of documents, newspapers and oral testimonies. The study combines tools and concepts from the fields of family history and network analysis.