The day after it was announced the Trump administration would be recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the Jewish Museum in Berlin unveiled their ‘Welcome to Jerusalem’ exhibition[1]. Noted by historian Simon Sebag Montefoire as the only city to exist twice, on earth and in heaven, it is the city’s religious significance which the exhibition seeks … 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
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
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
Asfar’s latest e-Journal for November 2016 is now online. Led by young people, Asfar’s unique e-Journal offers insightful glimpses into the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus. This issue, the first by our new senior editor Joe Worthington, includes a range of articles on the First World War, Black Bedouin Tribes, the Israel-Jordan gas deal, experiences … Continued
It’s been the largest social movement in Jordan since the Arab Spring, with thousands of Jordanians taking to the streets and campaigning against the contentious Israel-Jordan gas deal. Since the beginning of October, central Amman, Jordan, has been flooded with demonstrators following Friday prayer at the Grand Husseini mosque, as chants of “no to gas … Continued
Published by Asfar in London, UK - ISSN 2055-7957 (Online)