Avraham "Avi" Shlaim FBA (born 31 October 1945) is an
Iraqi-born British/Israeli historian. He is emeritus professor of International Relations at the
University of Oxford and a fellow of the
British Academy. Shlaim is considered one of
Israel's
New Historians,[SUP]
[1][/SUP] a group of Israeli scholars who put forward critical interpretations of the history of
Zionism and Israel.[SUP]
[2][/SUP]
Biography
Shlaim was born to wealthy Jewish parents in
Baghdad, Iraq. The family lived in a mansion with ten servants. His father was an importer of building materials with ties to the Iraqi leadership, including then-prime minister
Nuri al-Said.[SUP]
[3]
[/SUP]
The Iraqi Jews' situation became problematic with
Israel's War of Independence in 1948. In 1951 Shlaim's father was one of 100,000 Jews who registered to leave the country and surrender their citizenship. A subsequent law ruled that all those who left forfeited all rights, including property rights. The Shlaim family lost all their assets. His father crossed the border illegally on a mule, while Shlaim, his mother and sisters flew to Cyprus, reuniting in Israel.[SUP]
[3]
[/SUP]
Shlaim left Israel for England at the age of 16 to study at a Jewish school.[SUP]
[3][/SUP][SUP]
[4][/SUP] He returned to Israel in the mid-1960s to serve in the
Israel Defense Forces, then moved back to England in 1966 to read history at
Jesus College, Cambridge. He obtained his MA and married the great-granddaughter of
David Lloyd George, who was the British prime minister at the time of the
Balfour Declaration. He has lived in England ever since, and holds dual British and Israeli nationality.[SUP]
[5]
[/SUP]
He obtained an MSc (Econ.) in International Relations in 1970 from the
London School of Economics, and his PhD from the
University of Reading.[SUP]
[6][/SUP] He was a lecturer, then reader, in politics at the University of Reading from 1970 to 1987.[SUP]
[7][/SUP]
