Egyptian historian, Abdul-Wahab Al-Masiri, died yesterday. There is a lot of coverage about him in the Arabic press. He started his career as a Marxist, and then ended his career as an Islamist with a role in the Kifayah movement. He was billed as the Arab foremost expert on Zionism, and wrote an encyclopedia on Zionism and Judaism. From the academic point of view, I was not a fan of his work, and did not think that he added anything new to our knowledge on the subject. Don't get me wrong: compared to some Arab "experts" on Zionism (like the anti-Semitic Abu Mazen who used to be a holocaust denier), he was good. He deserves credit for advancing a rather rational understanding of Zionism. I give him credit for dismissing the anti-Semitic trash, known as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which is often cited in Saudi (and other) media. Al-Masiri also fought against the notions of "Jewish conspiracies". Sometimes his analysis of foreign policies were not convincing or accurate but I don't have time to give examples. People say that he was a good person.