Three Worlds

What’s the point of reading fiction? These days I re-read fiction I have loved for decades and there is no point in reading anything new.

On the other hand I do read biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, letters; seldom what might be called history books. I have just finished an astonishing memoir. It tells of the author’s life and that of his family but has an added dimension specially relevant today. He is an Iraqi-Jew whose family were prosperous merchants in Baghdad where he was a child. Jews were a minority among others and there was no discrimination. Life was good.

When he was five the family fled to Israel leaving their properties and most of their money and possessions. There he was discriminated against because he was a Jew from an Arab country. His unfortunate father could not speak Hebrew but the author being young picked it up quickly. Subsequently he was educated in England. The memoir concludes when he finishes his National Service with the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) and goes to Jesus College Cambridge.

That’s enough to make it a good read but the most important part of the memoir is the history: Iraq, Israel, Palestine. It is a compelling depiction of the establishment of Israel and Zionism. You should read it because it shines light on events today and it is a tribute to the author to write so  frankly about his own country and I have not done it justice because of my ineptitude and wanting to avoid spoilers.

“He is one of Israel’s “New Historians”, a group of Israeli scholars who put forward critical interpretations of the history of Zionism and lsrael.” (Wikipedia)