Who Is an Arab Jew? Albert Memmi
Albert Memmi (1920 to 2020), born in Tunis, was one of the most important writers on colonialism and on Jewish identity. In this essay from his 1975 book Jews and Arabs, he explains what he meant by “Arab Jews,” and why Jews from Arab countries could not simply return.
A word of convenience
Indigenous to the region
Memmi admits that the term “Arab Jews” is not a good one and uses it only for convenience. His point is that Jews were native to the lands now called Arab long before the Arab conquests, and shared with their neighbors languages, traditions, and cultures. On that basis, he argues, they have the same rights to a share in those lands as Arab Muslims, no more and no less.
An offer to return
Why Jews could not go back
Responding to an invitation from Libya's ruler, Muammar Qaddafi, for Jews to “return to the land of your birth,” Memmi describes what life had really been like for Jews in Arab countries: the insecurity, the second class status, and the violence that drove them out. He argues that this history must be remembered honestly.
Why it matters
A voice from Tunisia
Memmi's essay remains one of the clearest statements of the experience of Jews from Arab lands, written by a man who grew up in the Jewish quarter of Tunis, survived a Nazi labor camp, and spent his life writing about oppression and identity.
Read the essay on JIMENA.org →
This summary was written by JIMENA and is based on “Who Is an Arab Jew?” by Albert Memmi, from Jews and Arabs (1975).
