Journalists from Gaza get a temporary place as researchers in the Netherlands

Two journalists from the Gaza Strip have been given temporary shelter in the Netherlands. They will work at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) in Amsterdam for around five months. “Until recently, they were unsure of their lives in Gaza,” explains the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the owner of the research institute.

Amal Helles, one of the two journalists, arrived in the Netherlands on Monday. According to the KNAW, she became a war reporter “overnight” after the start of the war between Hamas and Israel. In Amsterdam, she will investigate the role of female journalists in reporting on the Gaza Strip. Photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Mohammed Alzanoon, coming to the Netherlands in February, wants to portray himself and his family to show “the invisible effects of the war.” Both Helles and Alzanoon managed to escape the Gaza Strip.

Helles and Alzanoon will become so-called Safe Haven Fellows at NIAS. These are researchers who can no longer carry out their work safely due to war and conflict. They will, therefore, find a safe haven in Amsterdam. Next year, NIAS will also offer a place to four researchers from Ukraine. Previously, critical scientists from Russia and Belarus were already able to work there. In the coming years, the institute also wants to take care of researchers from Sudan, Haiti, and Hong Kong.

NIAS is one of the institutes of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). According to the institute's website, it aims to create space for advanced research in the humanities and social sciences, based on interdisciplinary cooperation. In doing so, NIAS supports experts from the respective disciplines who find themselves in areas of conflict to exchange scientific information and strengthen independent research.