The Pessoptimist

Jew in Arabia, goy in Israel

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Kuwait executes seven people, including a prince

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Kuwait has hanged seven prisoners, including a royal family member, according to a statement carried by the state-run KUNA news agency. T...
Monday, January 16, 2017

Egyptian high vourt rejects deal with S Arabia about islands in the Gulf of Aqaba

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A top Egyptian courtm the High Administrative Court, has issued a final ruling rejecting a government plan to transfer two uninhabited Re...

Bahrain executes three shia men convicted of killing police officers in 2014

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Bahrain on Sunday has executed three Shia men who were convicted of killing three police officers in a bomb attack in March 2014, the au...
Sunday, January 8, 2017

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani 1934-2017

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Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died on Sunday at the age of 82, a big blow to moderates and reformists deprived now of...
Sunday, January 1, 2017

2017: Not a year for Palestinian celebrations

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I wish all my readers a good and happy year 2017. For Palestine it is a year of sour commemorations, though: the 100th birthday of the Balf...
Monday, December 26, 2016

New Media Law curbs Egyptian press even further

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Sisi  Three and a half years into power after the toppling of President Mohammed Morsi and taking charge of the country, Sisi’s Egypt ...
Thursday, December 22, 2016

Syrian army has retaken complete control of Aleppo

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By Ellen Francis | BEIRUT The Syrian army said it had retaken complete control of Aleppo on Thursday after the last rebel fighters w...
Monday, December 19, 2016

After a new president Lebanon now also got a new government

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Saad Hariri, the new Prime Minister, with president Michel Aoun (right).   (Foto Al Jazeera) Lebanon on Sunday acquired a new 30-minist...
Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Turkey, China and Egypt have the most journalists in jail

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According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) 2016 has seen a record number of journalists jailed worldwide, marking the worst ye...
Sunday, December 11, 2016

Bombs kill 38 people in Istanbul, most of them policemen

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 (Foto AFP) Turkey said on Sunday that Kurdish militants may be responsible for the two bombs that killed 38 people and wounded 155 in...
Friday, November 18, 2016

Death sentences against Morsi and 21 other member of the Muslim Brotherhood revoked

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Prisoner Morsi Egypt’s Court of Cassation revoked on Tuesday 14 november death sentences and ordered retrials for ousted Islamist Presi...
Sunday, November 13, 2016

HRW: Iraqi Kurds destroy Arab homes and even villages in areas retaken from IS

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 Human Rights Watch (HRW) notes that Iraqi Kurdisch peshmerga forces destroyed houses belonging to Arabs in areas the retook from IS in No...
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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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