The Pessoptimist

Jew in Arabia, goy in Israel

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

UN willi nvestigate mass murders in Mali

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Burnt house in the village Ogassogu. (Picture Malian government) The United Nations has sent a team of investigators to Mali's rest...
Tuesday, March 19, 2019

In Algeria new leaders emerge at the helm of the protests against Bouteflika

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Thousands of students, university professors and health workers rallied in Algiers on Tuesday calling for President Abdelaziz Bouteflik...
Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Dutch 'Christians for Israel' protest against GreenLeft party that assured BDS is legitimate

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Some dozens of people on Tuesday morning assembled in front of the bureau of the political party GroenLinks (GreenLeft) in Utrecht in the ...
Saturday, March 9, 2019

Millions take part in third mass protest against re-election of Algerian president Bouteflika

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Milions of Algerians have defied large contingents of riot police and resumed mass demonstrations against ailing President Abdelaziz Bo...

Last year in Yemen: About 100 civilian victims every week

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Almost 100 civilians were either killed or wounded every week in Yemen in 2018, with children accounting for a fifth of all casualties, t...
Saturday, February 23, 2019

Al-Beshir announces state of emergency in Sudan

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Al-Beshir (foto Wikipedia) Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has declared a year-long state of emergency, dissolving his cabinet and loc...

Protest in Algeria against candidature Bouteflika

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Bouteflika (Foto Wikipedia) Hundreds of demonstrators, in defiance of a ban on protests, rallied in the Algerian capital against a bid ...
Monday, February 18, 2019

Sisi wil probably be Egypt's president for another 12 years

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Egypt's parliament has overwhelmingly voted to approve draft constitutional changes that could extend President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi...

Yemen: agreement on gradual withdrawal from Hodeida

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The two sides at war in Yemen have agreed on the first phase of a pullback of forces from the city of Hodeidah. The United Nations descri...
Monday, January 21, 2019

Israel confirms it attacked Iranians in Syria

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A missile over Damascus (Youssef Badawi/EPA) The Israeli military carried out overnight attacks on Iranian targets in Syria, while Sy...
Monday, December 31, 2018

Ten years for activist in UAE

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An United Arab Emirates (UAE) appeals court has upheld a 10-year prison sentence against prominent pro-democracy activist Ahmed Mansoor fo...
Saturday, December 29, 2018

Egyptian forces kill 40 'militants' after bombing of tourist bus

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 The damaged bus with Vietnamese tourists. (Photo VNExpress/Vietnam) Egyptian security forces have killed 40 suspected militants in thre...
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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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