The Takeaway: Would Hamas complicate US plans for reset with Palestinians? Also: the back story on the spat between Israel and Jordan; Gulf post-COVID economic trends; Turkey’s Kurds; Egypt and Somalia; and more! Originals
Egypt sentences activist Sanaa Seif to 18 months in prison Seif, who had been in pretrial detention since June, was convicted Wednesday of spreading false news and misusing social media. Egypt
Ukraine rejects Iran's final report on downed passenger plane The Iranian government said last year's shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was the result of a human error. Iran
Palestinians receive first batch of vaccines through COVAX More than 60,000 doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived in Ramallah on Wednesday. Palestine
Don’t Get Too Excited Over Rafsanjani’s Run Iran’s former president throws his turban into the ring, but enthusiasm should be tempered by his spotty record, Iran’s bipolar system and the daunting challenges facing any Iranian leader. Iran
Algeria Tightens Noose On Sahel Terrorists The countries of the Sahel region are taking more aggressive steps to fight Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). Originals
Iraq’s Political Crisis Spreads To Sports Stadiums Iraq’s political crisis has spread to the country’s soccer stadiums, with fans from rival teams carrying out politically motivated attacks against one another. Iraq
Kerry's Secret Plan for Peace In the Middle East US Secretary of State John Kerry, hoping to jump-start the peace process, brought a compromise proposal to Jerusalem and Ramallah last week. Palestine
Iran Fears Partnership on Syria Between US, Russia If Russia and the United States start cooperating to resolve the Syrian crisis, Assad may forced to jump into Iran’s lap. Lebanon
Speculation Mounts in Iraq Over Maliki’s Health Across the Iraqi media, speculation has been rife about the current health of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, with conflicting reports from government and opposition sources. Iraq
Fatah Would Accept Land Swaps With Israel Despite the fiery reaction from some Palestinian circles, the concept of land swaps with Israel has long been accepted by the Palestinian Authority. Qatar
Ankara’s Syria Policy A Source of Instability Turkey’s Syria policy neglects the security of its citizens and borders. Turkey
Iraqi Shiite Political Leaders Opposing Al-Maliki Two of Iraq’s top Shiite leaders, Muqtada al-Sadr and Ammar al-Hakim, recently met to discuss current political affairs. Iraq
PA Helpless to Combat Expansion By Israel in Jordan Valley The Palestinian Authority is struggling to come up with answers to Israel's settlement expansion in the Jordan Valley. Palestine
Game-Changers in Syria Will Lead To Israel-Iran Confrontation The confrontation between Israel and Iran is escalating over Syria and expanding in Lebanon. Lebanon
Reyhanli Worst Terror Attack Turkey Has Witnessed Despite such devastating tragedy, the Erdogan government is still trying to defend its Syria policy, writes Tulin Daloglu. Syria
