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Title:Jews of Libya : Coexistence, Persecution, Resettlement
Author:Maurice M Roumani. Foreword by Sir Martin Gilbert
ISBN:1845191374 : 9781845191375
Illustrations:b/w photos & facsimile documents
Format:Hardback
Size:152x229mm
Pages:310
Weight: .608 Kg.
Published:Sussex Academic Press - March 2008
List Price: 59.95 Pounds Sterling
Availability:Reprint under consideration
Subjects:Jewish studies: International relations: Libya


This book investigates the transformative period in the history of the Jews of Libya (1938-52), a period crucial to understanding Libyan Jewry's evolution into a community playing significant roles in Israel, Italy and in relation with Qaddhafi's Libya. Against a background of a reform conscious Ottoman administration (1835-1911) and subsequent stirrings of modernisation under Italian colonial influence (1911-43), the Jews of Libya began to experience rapid change following the application of fascist racial laws of 1938, the onset of war-related calamities and violent expressions of Libyan pan-Arabism, culminating in mass migration to Israel in the period 1949-52. By focusing on key socio-economic and political dimensions of this process, the author reveals the capacity of Libyan Jewry to adapt to and integrate into new environments without losing its unique and historical traditions.

Introduction; The Changing Fortunes of Libyan Jews Under Italian Colonialism; The British Military Administration: Hopes and Disillusion; The Role of International Jewish Organisations: Rehabilitation and Protection of Minority Rights; Exodus: The Choice of Israel; Settlement in Israel: The Pains of Displacement and the Difficulties of Absorption; Closing the Circle in 1967: The Final Exodus and its Challenges; Index.

"Dr Roumani uses a wide range of archival and oral sources, many of which have never been used before. Throughout the book, he reveals a mastery of the social and political history, and a fine understanding of the lives, hopes, fears and aspirations of Libyan Jews. His book is a testimony to their suffering and their fortitude." -- From the Foreword by Sir Martin Gilbert. "Maurice Roumani has given us an impeccably researched, richly documented, and keenly insightful survey of Libyan Jewry's social and political evolution in the twentieth century. He brings to the study not merely the observations of a trained scholar with all of the requisite linguistic and methodological skills, but also the real life experience of someone who lived through the turbulent events of the period and was an actual witness to some of them. It is to Roumani's great credit that he is able to achieve an admirable balance of overall scholarly dispassion with the intimate poignancy of personal engagement. The Jews of Libya will surely take its place alongside the pioneer studies of Renzo De Felice and Harvey Goldberg." -- Norman A Stillman, Schusterman/Josey Professor of Judaic History, University of Oklahoma.