Writing about the "other": Israel in recent Iraqi novels

Writing about Israel is extremely rare in the Arab world. For many in the Arab World, Israel is the ultimate "Other". This article will discuss several recent Iraqi novels in which part or the entire plot takes place in Israel. The books were written by leading Arab Iraqi novelists and were published by publishers in Iraq and the Arab world. Despite their small number, the books originate from a significant change in Iraqi intellectual life, especially after 2003: the emergence of a new literary generation "The Generation of the 1990s" (ǧil al-tisinat), challenging the basics of Iraqi national culture. The article will explore this development from the point of view of the "Other": an Israeli scholar.