Published: 12 November 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
A FEW WEEKS AGO, a representative from the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called Idit Shemer, an Israeli author, in Jerusalem. “We want to print a few copies of ‘Departing Iraq,’ by Mr Ishaq Bar-Moshe,” said the voice on the phone.
“Abu Mazen [Abbas’s nickname] is interested in distributing them at a conference for Arab leaders, which will take place soon in the West Bank.”
Why is the PA’s president interested in a book by a Jewish Israeli writer?
The answer lies in language: Ishaq Bar-Moshe wrote in Arabic. His first important work was published in Israel during the 1970s, and he chose to write it in literary Arabic (Fusha).
When he immigrated from Iraq in 1950 at the age of 23, he already spoke Hebrew and wrote fluently in English, but always felt most at home writing in Arabic. Bar-Moshe passed away in 2003.
FULL STORY The Mizrahi author whose book Mahmoud Abbas wants to distribute (972)
Photo: Ishaq Bar-Moshe in Iraq. (Courtesy of Bar Moshe's family)
