10 Three Worlds - Memoirs of an Arab-Jew - Abi Shlaim
(Non fiction)
Once upon a time there was a flourishing Jewish community in Iraq they had been there not just for centuries, but several millennia. In Baghdad in particular they accounted for approximately one 3rd of the population. During the period of the Ottoman Empire, minority religions were able to operate and have autonomy to run their own affairs, subject to a poll tax. Jewish communities lived along side their Muslim neighbours in relative harmony, in fact quite a few forged close relationships. It was into this world, Abi Shlaim the author of this personal memoir was born. His father was a wealthy businessman and they lived in some style in an opulent villa in the centre of Baghdad. However this happy existence was to be shattered when he reached the age of 5, the early 50s, the Jewish community were forced to flee Iraq. Relations undermined by not only Iraqi nationalists who had been heavily influenced by The Nazis during the 1940s, but by the Zionist underground who covertly operated in Baghdad in the late 40s early 50s. Contrary to what many might imagine many Jewish Iraqis had zero interest in Zionism and Avi Shlaim's family were typical of Iraqi Jews in feeling Iraqi first and Jewish second most were fully immersed in Arabic culture. However, around the time of their flight to Israel anti semitism was surging in Iraq, one factor was the 1948 war where the tide of nationalistic Iraqi opinion was turning against them. As always, to be Jewish was to be conflated with the worst excesses of Zionism. Abi Shlaim was mostly to be throughout his life a fierce critic of the Zionist cause he abhorred the way The Palestinians, became "the victims victims" and were forced out of their lands by the successive governments of what was to become his newly adopted country. The objectives of Zionist operations in Iraq around the time of surging anti semitism was to persuade the Jewish population to leave Iraq and come to the newly formed state of Israel, many would have preferred to stay where they were. However, many were unnerved by bombs that were detonated in their areas, including a synagogue the perception at the time being that these had been planted by Iraqi nationalists. In Abi Shlaim's research as an Oxford Professor he and a Muslim colleague had pieced together evidence that in fact it was an underground Zionist movement who were behind the bombs, seeking to fan the flames and crank up the fear of the greater Muslim population, Those tactics to a greater extent worked, what was an initial trickle of immigrants turned into a steady flow. The Jewish community in Iraq has all but disappeared maybe a handful of people remain.
So it was into this second world as a five year old Avi and his family found themselves. Gone was the large villa and luxurious life- style, the family, of five were crammed into a small pretty basic flat. They were able to squirrel into the country a little money, but most of their assets were kept by the Iraqi state. Avi's father, once a successful business man was unable to find work and became a shell of his former self, and his mother became the breadwinner. At school Avi describes himself as an underachiever. In retrospect he feels a factor for that may have been, the overt prejudice towards Arab Jews, they were almost regarded as a sub culture, the European Ashkenizis being held up as the ideal. Speaking Arabic, in fact anything to do with Arab culture was frowned upon. Avi's mother laments that she has nothing in common with Ashkenzis, her whole existence and experiences have been in the Arab world. Israel for them was a depressing place. Eventually, as Avi is not flourishing at school, Avi's mother moves heaven and earth through her contacts to send him to school in England.
The third world of the title relates to Avi's school life in England, an England where his Arabic origins are not held up to ridicule as they were in Israel, and in spite of London's grey skies, a climate he found dreary, he does at last begin to find his academic wings, under the guidance of the headmaster who he lodges with in the family home whilst he goes on to eventually acquire the requisite A levels to gain entry to Cambridge. Today he is an Oxford historian of the modern Middle East.
This book provides a fascinating insight into an almost forgotten world.
