Dissenting Narratives – The Figure of the ‘Arab Jew’ in Contemporary Arabic Literature and Film

Abstract

Over the last teny ears, at opic that had been previouslys kirted in the public sphere of Arab countries has been broached, namely, the expulsion and departure of the Jewish population from these countries.When writers had addressed this phenomenon in the past,they did so onlyinthe context of the Palestinian/ Arab-Israeli conflict.The history of the Jews living in Arab countries (ArabJews)² has been dominated by an official nationalisticd iscourse that has rarely been questioned (Abdulhaq 2016,7-48). This discourse consists of two parts,o ne Arab and the other Zionist.B oth reject consideringJ ews as an organic component of the society in which they live.A rabd iscourse connects Jewish life to Israel and hence to the Palestinian/Arab-Israeli conflict. An ew generation of authorsa nd film makers is questioning this discourse, through novels mainlya nd,t oalesser degree, through non-fiction works,with consequences extendingb eyond the Palestinian/Arab-Israeli conflict.T he central figures in these works are the Jeww ho used to live in Egypt,I raq, Syria or Tunisia, but had been drivenf rom theirc ountries in the 1950s and 1960s. Only in the last decade achangehas taken place, and aheightened interest in Jewish history in Arab countries arose that transcended the official nationalistic thought. This literary trend createsanew space wherei ndividual stories about Jews are discussed. This changeh as not yetb roughta bout as hift in the official line, but literature is clearlyq uestioning its discourse, creatingabeginning of the emergenceo fapost-nationalistic discourse. This interest in Jewish history is not limited to one Arab country.B etween 2004 and the end of 2017,more than 23 novels and works of non-fiction thatcentered around an Arab Jeww erep ublished in Arab countries.These Arab-Jewish figures moveb eyond the stereotypical disloyal, greedy, selfishJ ew so often found in modern Arab literature.