"INSIDE THE ARAB REVOLUTION" by Koert Debeuf from Lannoo Campus Publishers, April 2014, in paperback

Unlike most of us, Koert Debeuf is no desk researcher. He is a courageous and committed political blogger, opinion maker and Middle East expert, who travelled extensively in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Jordan, Palestine and Turkey. A representative of the European Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE), Debeuf was physically present at the Arab Spring; in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Taksim Square in Istanbul, Azaz refugee camp in northern Syria. He walked through bombed-out markets and bakeries, and visited the rebels in Aleppo. In September 2011 he moved to Cairo, to observe firsthand the unfolding events. The result of his odyssey is this meticulously detailed account of a period of big historical change in the Middle East.

"Inside the Arab Revolution" is a definitive account of the Arab revolutions, highly informative, passionately written, and full of fact-based anecdotes highlighting, amongst other things, the suffering of Syrian children, inside Syria and in refugee camps. It is no exaggeration to describe the book as a landmark in the literature of the political Tsunami that swept the region. Its impact is all the more extraordinary given that its author is a non-Arab, writes Nehad Ismail.