The Pessoptimist

Jew in Arabia, goy in Israel

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood names leaders of its 'Freedom and Justice Party'

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Left to right: Saad el-Katatny, Mohamed Morsy, and Essam el-Erian. (Mohammed Abdel Ghani/Al-Masry al-Youm) In their first non-clandestine G...

At least 62 killed during Friday of rage throughout Syria

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A  round up of demonstrations in Syria on the 29th of April  2011. Not only vere they nationwide, also the call for the downfall of the re...
Thursday, April 28, 2011

Egypt to open Gaza crossing and sending team to help implement reconciliation Fatah-Hamas

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Nabil al-Arabi Egypt's foreign minister said in an interview with Al-Jazeera on Thursday that preparations were underway to open ...

Syrian Baath members resign in protest against violent supression of demonstrations

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    Family fleeing from Syria tro Lebanon. Some 200 members of Syria's ruling Baath party are reported to have resigned over the viole...

Protesters sentenced to death in Bahrain

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A Bahraini military court has sentenced four Shia protesters to death and three to life jail terms for the killing of two policemen during ...

Fatah and Hamas agree on reuniting West Bank and Gaza

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The two rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas said they reached an agreement Wednesday on reuniting their governments in the West Bank a...
Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Some 35 more victims in Deraa, Assad send also troops to Douma

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Nightly protest on Tuesday evening in Zabadani (a suburb of Damascus) in solidarity with Deraa. Other protest were hel din HGoms, Latakia, ...
Monday, April 25, 2011

Syria sends tanks into city of Deraa

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 Syria's army has advanced into the southern city of Deraa, using tanks to support troops amid an intensified effort to curb popular pr...
Sunday, April 24, 2011

Syria seems to have reached point of no return after more than 100 killed in two days

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The banner reads: No Baath, no Assad, we want a liberated country' Security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad have killed at least 11...

President Saleh agrees to step down

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President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has agreed to step down under a 30-day transition plan aimed at ending violent unrest over his 32-ye...
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

At least 846 killed during Egyptian revolution, Mubarak at least indirectly responsible

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'Battle of the Camels ' An Egyptian fact finding committee, consisting of judges, has found that the toll of te 25 January revolu...
Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Syrian cabinet passes law lifting state of emergency.

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Syria's government passed a draft law on Tuesday to lift 48 years of emergency rule, a concession to unprecedented demands for greater...
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Abu Pessoptimist
This blogname was derived from a satiric Arabic novel by the Palestinian Israeli Emile Habiby. In the ''The Secret Life of Saeed The Pessoptimist'' he uses absurdism as a weapon against the (ir)realities of daily life in Palestine/Israel. I consider it to be an example for how events in Israel/Palestine best can be approached. The subtitle is from a book by Dutch author Renate Rubinstein. In a way that is also still my motto. My real name is Martin (Maarten Jan) Hijmans. I've been covering the ME since 1977 and have been a correspondent in Cairo. In 2018, I concluded the study 'Arabic language and culture' at the University of Amsterdam. I started 'Abu Pessoptimist' in January 2009 out of anger about the onslaught of that month in Gaza. The other blog, The Pessoptimist, is meant to be a sister version in English. (En voor de Nederlandstaligen: ik wilde in november 2009 een tweede blog in het Engels beginnen en ontdekte te laat dat als je één account hebt, een profiel dan meteen ook voor allebei de blogs geldt. Vandaar dat het nu ineens in het Engels is... So sorry.)
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