Libyan Twilight: The Story of an Arab Jew

Jews settled there over a thousand years before Islam, and numbered almost 40,000 before 1948. But Libya is now Judenrein, and will remain so as long as Jew and Arab fight over Israel.

Peoples who treat their Jewish minority badly usually treat other groups badly, too. This led to civil war in today's Libya. Numberless victims were murdered, many others tortured. Messrs Cameron and Sarkozy intervened to destroy Qaddafi but they had no realistic plans for the post-Qaddafi period. Why did they not learn from Blair's mistakes in Iraq? Why did they desert Qaddafi, after he, alone of all dictators, voluntarily gave up his nuclear weapons' programme under Western supervision? Luzon does not ask these questions. He limits himself to his own family's experiences. The style of the book is that of an innocent idealist, often surrounded by enemies, yet nobly dreaming of reconciliation between Muslim and Jew. It reads well, with personal flashbacks immersed in Jewish ritual and Arab political culture.

Qaddafi, though a killer of many of his own people, and supporter of the Palestinian cause, courted the Libyan Jewish diaspora, and tantalisingly offered the prospect of compensation. But only when he needed Western support. Luzon was involved in the discussion, and provides some insight.

He could have told us much about divisions among the colourful characters of Libyan Jewry in Rome, which sadly enabled Qaddafi to give them all nothing. Jews should hang together, if they don't want to be hung out to dry.

Andrew M. Rosemarine runs an international law office, has organised asylum for many Libyans, worked on compensation for refugees, and lived among the Libyan community in Rome