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
UAE Arrests Activist For 'False News' Tweets An Emirati activist arrested and charged with "spreading false news" on Twitter is yet another sign of dwindling free speech in the United Arab Emirates, writes Matt Duffy. United Arab Emirates
Activists Challenge Egypt's Views On Women's Status in Society Many woman activists in Egypt are challenging the sincerity of President Mohammed Morsi's recent announcement of a new intiative "to support the rights and freedoms of the Egyptian women," writes Daria Solovieva. Egypt
Is Kuwait Serious About Bedoon Naturalization? Given the history of unfulfilled promises by the Kuwait government, the Bedoon community is skeptical of the country's seriousness in granting them citizenship, Mona Kareem writes. Legacy: Gulf
Turkey’s Islamized Armenians Grapple With Tragic Roots The descendants of Islamized Armenians who survived the Ottoman massacres during World War I have begun to “come out” in Turkey, braving century-old prejudices and fears to embrace their Armenian roots, reports Sibel Utku Bila from Diyarbakir. Turkey
Gaza Fishermen Outraged By Renewed Israeli Restrictions Israel has again reduced Gaza's fishing zone to three nautical miles offshore, in violation of last November's cease-fire agreement with Hamas, Mohammed Suliman writes. Palestine
Arab League Summit Is About More Than Syria The Arab League summit dealt not only with the controversial issue of seating the Syrian opposition, but also with Arab citizenship and civil society, writes Clovis Maksoud. Lebanon
Egypt’s Interest in Iraq, Iran Is Economic, Not Ideological Despite the concerns of Gulf states that Egypt’s recent rapprochement with Iraq, and by extension Iran, is founded on an ideological basis, experts assert the reason is purely economic, Abdelrahman Youssef writes. Egypt
Anbar Protesters Form Committee To Negotiate With Maliki Four months into their demonstrations, the protesters of Anbar have formed a committee to negotiate with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and enter the political process, writes Ali Abel Sadah. Iraq
Maliki Takes Steps to Ease Political, Social Divisions in Iraq Following months of protests in Sunni-majority regions of Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has finally agreed to take steps to mitigate the crisis and listen to protesters’ demands, writes Mushreq Abbas. Iraq
Will Anbar Elections Go Ahead? Questions have been raised in Baghdad over the decision to postpone Anbar's provincial elections, and the decision may be reversed, writes Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Iraq
Erdogan's Good Fortune And Israel's Apology Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been Turkey's prime minister for over 10 years, and during that time he has had an incredible number of political victories; so many in fact that Cengiz Çandar writes that nobody is as lucky as Erdogan. Israel
What Lebanon's Mikati Lacked To Succeed as Prime Minister Hadi Fathallah examines Najib Mikati's resignation as Lebanon's prime minister, where he failed in the job, and what he needs to succeed should he return. Lebanon
