Middle East

Articles
- Exposing “Ghosts” – An Online Hunt for Assad’s Thugs in Europe
  By Koen Kluessien – “We love Assad because the government gave us all the power – if I wanted to take something, kill a person or rape a girl I could […]. The government gave me 30,000 Syrian pounds per month and an extra 10,000 per person that I… Continue Reading →
- Longing for a Lost Ideal: The Historic Struggle for Jerusalem’s Temple Mount
  By Laurien Vastenhout During last month’s Pesach, tensions raised in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel. Religious Jews had sacrificed a lamb close to the Temple Mount, an area administered by a Muslim religious trust. A few weeks before, the Israeli High Court had upheld the police… Continue Reading →
- Different Shades of Denial: are the White House and the German far right relativizing the Holocaust?
  By Marieke Zoodsma January is an important month for those involved in Holocaust remembrance; the 27th of January, the day that Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is a month in which events are organised that involve Holocaust remembrance or… Continue Reading →
- Populist rivalry: Trump’s impact on the future and politics of Israel
  Trump speaking at CPAC 2011 (creative commons). By Laurien Vastenhout After a period of disbelief and evasive responses, the world now has to face that Donald Trump is President of the United States. To the extent possible, Trump’s measured victory speech in November was ‘hopeful’; at least… Continue Reading →
- The Power of the UN to protect Humanity – Part I The Security Council
  By Iona Mulder – The UN was founded after the Second World War with the primary goal of protecting peace and security in the world. One of the most important elements of this goal is the protection of people all around the world against similar atrocities that were… Continue Reading →
- Victims and reparations at the ICC
  By Amani Chibashimba (guest writer) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) was created by the Rome Statute of 1998 in a way to conclude the efforts that have been made to fight international criminality since the end of the Second World War. Its creation is considered to be a… Continue Reading →
- Ending Statelessness: the long road ahead
  By Arja Oomkens – Exactly one year ago, UNHCR launched a global campaign aimed at ending statelessness, a phenomenon that is often described as a “devastating legal limbo”. But what is statelessness exactly, and why is it so important to combat its consequences? The UNHCR report that came out… Continue Reading →
- No Place to Hide: War Criminals and Terrorists Among Refugees
  By Kari van der Ploeg – This summer the world was shocked when a photo of a little Syrian boy went viral. He was pictured face down in the sand, drowned before the coast of Greece. In no time, the public opinion regarding the European refugee crisis turned emotional.… Continue Reading →
- “We Fought With Our Bodies and Voices, Not With Guns and Weapons” – Interview With the Cast of ‘A Syrian Love Story’
  By Tayfun Balçik – The IDFA-screening of A Syrian Love Story – a documentary depicting 5 years of the life of a troubled Syrian family filmed against the background of the war,– caused many emotional reactions among Amsterdam’s Tuschinksi cinema visitors. Some people in the audience cried,… Continue Reading →
- The Rise of ISIS: Its Power Explained Through the Political Dynamics in the Middle-East
  By Kari van der Ploeg – ISIS’ rapid rise of power was accompanied by a severe social media campaign. They confronted the world with gruesome videos of executions of not only westerners, but also Arabs and Muslims. Many people have started wondering why ISIS is killing its fellow Muslims.… Continue Reading →
- The enemy’s enemy is a friend: turning a blind eye to the atrocities of the Assad regime
  By Koen Kluessien – Palmyra, once a hub of Greek, Roman and Persian cultures and an important center of the ancient world, has now become known for the bloodbath perpetrated by the Islamic State and the possible destruction of its historical artifacts. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,… Continue Reading →
- In Search of a Solution to the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Local Integration in Turkey will Relieve Mounting Tensions
  By Arja Oomkens – With the conflict in Syria entering its fifth year of ongoing atrocities and destruction, it has come to epitomize one of the most challenging humanitarian crises of our era. Nearly 4 million Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring countries and North Africa, and over 200,000 Syrian refugees have… Continue Reading →
- “No one before me, history is written after me” – The destruction of cultural heritage as a tactic of war
  By Marieke Zoodsma – The destruction of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq by the Islamic State has generated great international uproar these past weeks. Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, released a public statement condemning these acts by framing that they constitute a war crime.… Continue Reading →
- Cultural Resistance: How Artistic Expression can Hold a People Together
  By: Kari van der Ploeg – Estonia is a small country bordering the Baltic sea in Eastern Europe that has known waves of occupiers. German, Danish and Swedish occupations preceded the occupation by the Soviets that started in the Second World War. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact divided Europe between Germany and the… Continue Reading →
- The Future of Israel: The Impediments of the Upcoming Elections
  By Laurien Vastenhout – After the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged European Jews to settle in Israel. Not only because he considered it to be their sole homeland but also because, due to increasing anti-semitism in Europe, the country provides the only safe haven to Jews. Despite the… Continue Reading →
- ‘Question their continual existence to this day’ – The Islamic States’ ‘Dabiq’ magazine and its violent rhetoric
  By Koen Kluessien – When attacks by the Islamic State took place in several small villages in the Syrian province of Aleppo, most rebels of the Free Syrian Army were stunned: these villages were of no real strategic importance. However, although the villages had no direct military goal, the jihadists of… Continue Reading →
- Unholy Alliances: Radicalisation in US Detention Facilities
  By Kari van der Ploeg – The Islamic State (IS) is known for its religious fundamentalism. Remarkably, its leadership consists of many men with moderate religious backgrounds. Several of its highest deputies served as officials for Saddam Hussein’s army. As Hussein’s Ba’ath Party was secular by background, this raises questions… Continue Reading →
- “We Are You”: The Meaning of the Holocaust in Israeli Identity and Politics
  By Laurien Vastenhout – By After the ‘march of unity’ of world leaders in Paris on the 11th of January, which was a response to the terrorist attacks on both the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo and the Jewish grocery store in the city centre, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu visited the memorial… Continue Reading →
- ‘Media Mujahideen’ – The Islamic State and its online warfare
  By Koen Kluessien – Israfil Yilmaz is an avid user of many different social media platforms: he posts photos of kittens on his Tumblr page, discusses a wide range of topics on Twitter, answers questions from people around the world on his ask.fm account, and he shares photos with… Continue Reading →

Definitioner

Islamic State: The Islamic state (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and al-Dawlah al-Islamīyah fī al-ʻIrāq wa-al-Shām (DAESH), is a radical islamist group that has seized large territory in eastern Syria and parts of northern and western Iraq. The goal of the group is to establish a 'caliphate': a state ruled by one political and religious leader, in accordance to the Islamic law, or 'Sharia'. Although the state is currently confined to Iraq and Syria, it is the goal of the Islamic State to take over Jordan, Lebanon and to 'free' Palesine. The islamist group receives both mental support and jihadist fighters from Muslims across the world. True supporters must first swear allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State - Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.