Three Worlds (memoirs Of An Arab-jew)

A unique coming-of-age story from the lost world of Arab-Jews

In July 1950, Avi Shlaim, only five, and his family were forced into exile, fleeing from their beloved Iraq into the new state of Israel.

Now the rump of a once flourishing community of over 150,000, dating back 2,600 years, has dwindled to single figures. For many, this tells the story of the timeless clash of the Arab and Jewish civilisations, the heroic mission of Zionism to rescue Eastern Jews from their backwards nations, and unceasing persecution as the fate and history of Jewish people.

Avi Shlaim tears up this script. His mother had many Muslim friends in Baghdad, but no Zionist ones. The Iraqi Jewish community, once celebrated for its ancient heritage and rich culture, was sprayed with DDT upon arrival in Israel. As anti-Semitism gathered pace in Iraq, the Zionist underground may have inflamed it – deliberately.

This memoir celebrates the disappearing heritage of Arab-Jews – caught in the crossfire of secular ideologies.

‘This remarkable upside-down tale… A personal story, not a polemic… provocative… His personal odyssey confers on Shlaim an exceptional authority for his words; he can say things that others of us cannot… his thesis deserves to be considered with respect.’

''At the heart of this riveting and profoundly controversial book is Shlaim’s investigation into the Baghdad bombings against Jewish targets in 1950 and 1951… This is a beautifully written book which artfully blends the personal with the political. The recollections of family life in both its glory and its anguished tribulations are vividly recreated. Shlaim’s is a powerful and humane voice which reminds us that the Palestinians were not the only victims of the creation of Israel in 1948.’

''An intimate and engaging life story that forces the reader to re-examine three very different worlds – Iraq, Israel and Britain – in the middle decades of the twentieth century.  A reflective and insightful plunge into the identity politics of the Arab-Jew by one of Britain’s greatest public intellectuals. But also the best book I’ve read all year.''

''This memoir is an engrossing personal narrative as well as a historian’s penetrating reflection on the misfortune of the "other victims" of Zionism: Jews exiled from their old Arab homelands where they were well integrated, and transplanted to Israel, to serve as a subaltern class of the Hebrew settler nation.''

‘In this detailed, resonant account, historian Shlaim recalls the complexities of growing up as an Arab Jew in Iraq and Israel… Those interested in alternative Jewish attitudes toward Zionism will find this illuminating.’

‘Sharply observed, and without stridency, in making a case for an ecumenical Israel.''

''Three Worlds juxtaposes a fascinating family story, unfolding across Iraq, Israel, and the UK, with an intriguing historical account of Iraqi Jews during an especially calamitous period. Here the preeminent scholar of the Arab–Israeli conflict furnishes a precious personal glimpse into a past in which Arab-Jews figure prominently, generating a more subtle and multilayered picture of the partition of Palestine and its aftermath.''

‘A milestone in the modern scholarship of the Middle East.’

‘Strikingly fair-minded, scholarly, cogently reasoned.’

Avi Shlaim was born in Baghdad and grew up in Israel. He is now a Professor of International Relations at St Antony''s College, Oxford. His previous books include