Asfar is currently testing a multiple language option on our website. Now the Asfar website can be accessed in 7 different languages, alongside British English. As this is a website language plugin, rather than a bespoke language translation, we welcome feedback and thoughts. If the translation is very bad or inappropriate, Asfar may have … Continued
In December 2017, 3 UK youth workers traveled to Poland to participate in Erasmus+ Betzavta. Asfar is a member of the Betzavta partnership, a reconciliation and peacebuilding methodology and training network. Youth Workers participated in Erasmus+ Betzavta in Poland from 7th to 13th December, 2017. Asfar is currently recruiting for the second Betzavta training … Continued
Welcome to Asfar’s December 2017 edition of our international e-Journal. This edition focuses on a range of thought-provoking topics, as always, including Qatar and the current situation in the Gulf, the Palestinian diaspora, conflict resolution in Israel and Palestine, Turkey-EU relations, and the issue of child marriage in the Caucasus. The Qatar Conundrum by Rich … Continued
Child Marriage is still an ever-present issue throughout the world, and is most widely known and understood in Africa and the Middle East by the general public, but in Europe and the wider Western countries knowledge of child marriage in the Caucasus is limited. There is a lack of information and awareness of the causes … Continued
Turkey has always been, is, and will likely remain one of the most vital countries for the European Union. According to Richard Coudenhove, Turkey has always been an integral part of Europe’s history. Over centuries, relations between the two were characterized by cooperation and convergence— for instance, the deep economic, cultural, artistic, and societal exchanges … Continued
If one expects President Donald J. Trump to work to alleviate global tensions, one will undoubtedly be routinely disappointed. Perhaps the largest international challenge facing the American leader and former reality star, outside of the Korean peninsula, is the tiny Gulf state of Qatar. In early summer, a collection of regional powers, spearheaded by Saudi … Continued
Nestled on a hilltop overlooking the West Bank city of Nablus is the small, and seemingly nondescript, village of Kiryat Luza. Just a 10 minute car ride from the Palestinian city below, you would be hard pressed to pin-point any identifiable differences that would set this particular village apart from its local environs. Upon closer … Continued
Steven Aiello, Director of the Debate for Peace program, gave this speech at the EP-med-PATRIR (European Platform for Middle East Dialogue) “Israel-Palestine, moving towards needs-based solutions” conference. In 2011, I was studying conflict resolution in a graduate program at the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel. The most lasting lessons I learned that year came not from … Continued
Notoriously elusive, complex, and difficult to define, memory has become a focal point for multiple studies in the academic and public spheres. In the Palestinian context, 2017 has been a year of commemorations, marking 100 years since the Balfour Declaration which saw Britain give its support to the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine … Continued
On May 11, 1943 Shmuel Zygelboym wrote his final letter and addressed the question of “the conscience of the world”, acknowledging that “I know how little human life is worth today”. (1) Zygelboym, a member of the Polish Bund exiled in London was addressing the Nazi atrocities transpiring without much resistance from the rest of … Continued
It is frequent to come across the concept of ‘mysticism’ while reading a book, singing a song, studying history, or listening to a religious speech. However, sometimes it is hard to define what mysticism is exactly, placing it in a precise space and time and attributing it to a defined category of people. It is … Continued
The Balkan region has experienced an immense amount of change in the last three decades, with borders that have shifted and ethnic disparities distributed throughout different countries. But to the naked eye, it can seem to the outsider that the borders and countries are stable, with ethnic tensions being a mere question of the past. … Continued
Turkey is one of the most geographically strategic countries in the world—a potentially lethal bridge between continents. İstanbul is the only city in the world that connects two continents. The city, which is located in both Asia and Europe, has been the capital city for many civilizations; for thousands of years throughout its history. … Continued
The name Arthur Balfour means little to some and everything to others. To those of us who traipsed past his statue on our way to the launch of the Balfour Apology Campaign one Tuesday evening in October, he was as similarly unrecognisable as the various faces that adorn the walls of the Houses of … Continued
On all the roads leading out of Midan el-Tahrir, people marched home, jubilant, exhausted, revived. Fresh paint glinted along Mohamed Mahmoud Street, where the dead were commemorated in lively murals, and along Sixth October Bridge, cars caught in the gridlock sat under piles of teenagers waving flags. Many of those who had been in Tahrir … Continued
Published by Asfar in London, UK - ISSN 2055-7957 (Online)