Publisher's Synopsis
Zionism in an Arab Country explores the relations between the Zionist establishment in Israel, and the Jewish community in Iraq. This relationship centred on two organisations: a Zionist movement and a defense organisation. By reviewing the activity of these organisations, Esther Meir-Glitzstein examines the decade preceding mass immigration, and reveals the political, societal, economic and cultural developments that shaped the history of Iraqi Jewry in this crucial period. The book covers: The relations between the Jewish minority and the Muslim-Arab majority in Iraq - in the context of the rise of the local national government, its struggle against British colonialism, and its efforts to lay foundations of an Iraqi nation. Struggles within the Jewish community between different sectors of society, political groups, and ideologies of the time regarding Jewish orientation. The relationship between the Zionist establishment and Iraqi Jewry: how it changed during the 1940s, and its operative ramifications. The characteristics and evolution of the Zionist movement in Iraq in the 1940s, its status as a Jewish community, and its role during the mass immigration from Iraq.;Women's role in Zionist activities in Iraq. The defence organisation in Iraq and the dilemmas entailed in its existence. Beyond the main focus on the sphere of Zionist activity, Meir-Glitzstein also uncovers the basic problems that shaped both the development of Iraqi Jewry in the 1940s and the policy of the Zionist establishment - trapped between Arab nationalism and Jewish nationalism. Finally, she elucidates the reasons and circumstances that led to the mass immigration of Jews from Iraq to the state of Israel.
