The Pessoptimist

Jew in Arabia, goy in Israel

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Egypt creates new human rights watchdog - to protect itself

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By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press.   Egypt has created a new high-powered human rights watchdog agency, but its primary mission isn’t t...
Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Trump chooses to ignore CIA conclusion about Saudi crown prince's involvement in Khashoggi murder

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U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the "United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure t...
Friday, November 16, 2018

Tariq Ramadan after 10 months free on bail

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Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar, has been released on bail after being held in detention for nearly 10 months over charges of ...
Friday, November 9, 2018

Turks found traces of acid at home Saudi consul

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Saudi authorities used acid and other chemicals to dispose of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi's body, a source at the Turkish attorn...

America's ''war on terror'' killed about half a million people

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Hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have been killed due to the so-called "war on terror" launch...
Monday, November 5, 2018

Rouhani vows to ''proudly bypass'' US sanctions

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Iran responded to the United States’s imposition of tough new sanctions on Monday with air defence drills and confident and confrontatio...
Sunday, November 4, 2018

Turkish paper: Khashoggy's body dismembered and taken ouside consulate in five suitcases

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Jamal Khashoggi's body was dismembered and put into five suitcases after he was strangled upon entering Saudi Arabia's consulat...

Bahrain sentences three opposition leaders to life

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Sheikh Ali Salman Bahrain's appeals court has sentenced three senior members of the country's opposition movement to life in ...
Friday, October 26, 2018

Netanyahu meets with sultan Qaboos in Oman

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Netanyahu talking to sultan Qaboos. (Foto:no credt)  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an official visit to Oman, where he met ...

Flash floods in Jordan sweep away bus: at least 19 people killed

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At least 20 people, mostly young children,  died and 34 were injured and rescued by Thursday evening from flashfloods in the hot springs...
Saturday, October 20, 2018

Saudi Arabia admits killing Khashoggi, Turks will reveal the ''real'' truth

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Saudi Arabia has admitted to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside its consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul.Khashoggi, a...
Thursday, October 11, 2018

After 70 Years of Abuse, a Definition of Anti-Palestinian Racism

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Is this where the fight-back begins? by Stuart Littlewood / October 10th, 2018  (earlier published in Dissent Voice ) What is the m...
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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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