The Electronic Network for Arab-West Understanding (ENAWU) is a specialized information network that links together a network of think-tanks and information repositories in the West and the Arab world.

Background of ENAWU

The establishment of this network was funded by the Anna Lindh Foundation, the German development organization Misereor, and others.

The network was launched on June 5, 2008 by HRH Prince el-Hassan bin Talal in Jordan. Project directors are Cornelis Hulsman

Cornelis Hulsman

Cornelis Hulsman is a Dutch sociologist who has been living in Egypt since 1994. He is currently the editor in chief of the Arab-West Report. AWR includes a weekly digest of various Egyptian press outlets...

 and Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Khalil

Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Khalil

Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Khalil is an Egyptian Christian civil engineer who is actively involved in projects advancing Arab-West and Muslim-Christian understanding. Sawsan Gabra is co-founder of Arab-West Report. AWR was previously called Religious News Service from the Arab World , and in 2005 founded...

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The Objective of ENAWU

ENAWU aims to foster relations and dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims by providing access to accurate, credible, and reliable information for use by scholars, diplomats, journalists, students, other researchers and general users. Improving public understanding of the contemporary Islamic world in non-Muslim countries and, similarly, improving public understanding of the contemporary non-Muslim world in Islamic countries can be accomplished by strengthening, improving and expanding reporting. Reporting that will necessarily include analysis of Arab-West cultural issues, religious issues, and other key factors that involve civil society in the Arab world and the West. ENAWU aims at changing the ways in which sensitive topics involving people belonging to other cultures or religions are discussed, stressing the need to refrain from polemics, exaggerations, and other forms of distortion. The ENAWU portal uses the Arab-West Report

Arab-West Report

Arab-West Report is an independent electronic magazine founded by Drs. Cornelis Hulsman and Eng. Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Khalil in 1997, originally titled the Religious News Service from the Arab World...

 as a springboard for discussions, recently encouraging interactive online forum discussions on the controversial film 'Fitna' by Dutch MP Geert Wilders

Geert Wilders

Geert Wilders is a Dutch right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom , the third-largest political party in the Netherlands. He is the Parliamentary group leader of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives...

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