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
State Department shake-up leaves Qatar hanging President Trump’s ouster of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson knocks out a leading champion for resolving the monthslong Qatar crisis in the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia
Egyptian-Americans launch human rights push ahead of Sisi re-election Trump helped free NGO worker Aya Hijazi from prison. Now she’s leading the charge against his Egypt policy. Egypt
Tillerson's departure could disrupt US-Turkey progress With US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson leaving office, critical Turkey-US plans to meet about Syria could be delayed as Ankara recalibrates to face incoming Mike Pompeo. Syria
No end to Yemen war in sight as Saudi Arabia, Iran lock horns The war in Yemen drags on even as it continues to bleed Saudi Arabia while increasing international pressure on Iran. Saudi Arabia
Iranian media compares Trump to Ahmadinejad amid Tillerson dismissal Iranian media draw parallels between President Donald Trump and Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad amid the dismissal of Rex Tillerson. United States
Mystery lingers over Turkey’s missing weapons The Turkish government is reluctant or unable to explain the extraordinary increase in lost or stolen guns in the country, including weapons distributed and now missing since the 2016 coup attempt. Turkey
Latest Israeli political crisis exposes fragile coalition Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s maneuvering through the coalition crisis and early elections has broken whatever trust his coalition partners had in him and left him weaker. Israel
Why Erdogan called for updating Islam Misogyny in the name of Islam proved shocking to Turkey’s secularists, but it also was disturbing to most moderate religious conservatives, many of whom vote for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey
Egyptian campaign speaks up for architectural heritage Inspired by the plight of an Alexandria villa that has played an important literary role, a group of Egyptians are working to educate the public and protect the remaining palaces and other architectural wealth of Egypt. Egypt
Holding Libyan elections this year could be disastrous There's a lot of pressure to hold elections in Libya this year, but many observers fear the country is still too unstable to pull it off without making the situation even worse. Libya
Palestinians pin hopes on Pompeo The Palestinian leadership hopes that the friendship between intelligence chief Majid Faraj and Mike Pompeo, who will soon be appointed US secretary of state, will help thaw relations between Washington and Ramallah. Palestine
Netanyahu’s lesson on power limits The leaders of HaBayit HaYehudi and Shas parties joined forces to stop Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for early elections in June. Israel
