Jewish-Arab relations in Iraq: From the British occupation to the mass exodus (1917-51)

From the establishment of the Iraqi polity under King Faisal I in 1921 the Jews were anxious to integrate into Muslim Arab society and become an integral part of it. However, with the end of the British Mandate in 1932 the Jews' relations with Arab society took a turn for the worst, reaching its climax in the 1941 pogrom. The struggle to determine the fate of Palestine and later the establishment of the state of Israel created an unbearable situation, which ultimately pushed the Jews out of Iraq, during the early 1950s. This study analyzes Jewish-Arab relations during that period, focused mainly on the circumstances which led to this change - from an attempt to integrate to Arab policy of controlled oppression.