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
Iran sees challenge of Kurdish referendum as opportunity After being taken aback by the Kurdish independence vote, Iran is now evolving to view the referendum as an opportunity to forge practical cooperation with affected neighboring states. Iraq
Russians, Saudis look to spruce up relations Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi King Salman reached around their differences to sign lucrative agreements and improve relations, but the differences are still there. Saudi Arabia
Libya on alert after murder of four tribal peacekeepers Four men belonging to a local Libyan tribe and working on mediations between warring tribes were murdered recently, raising questions about reconciliation efforts. Libya
Turkey's women step up protests against AKP, its supporters Turkey has been a scene of female protests, from women protesting against the new law on marriage to actresses making statements on festivals. Turkey
Jordan pressures Syrian rebels to reopen Nasib crossing Syrian opposition groups have been refusing to cave in to Jordanian pressure to hand over the Nasib border crossing to the Syrian government, while Jordan, which hopes to revive this trade route and encourage Syrian refugees to return home, has plenty of leverage over the rebels. Jordan
Who will control Gaza forces? An Egyptian proposal for a Fatah-Hamas joint security council in the Gaza Strip could pave the way for Palestinian reconciliation. Palestine
Was Abbas' endorsement of one-state solution plea or ploy? Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ended his UN speech with an assurance that the "inevitable" freedom coming for Palestinians may take the form of a single-state solution. Palestine
How Egypt’s opposition is countering Sisi ahead of presidential vote The sentence issued against Egyptian lawyer Khaled Ali, who intends to run in the 2018 presidential elections, comes after opposition factions announced the launch of talks to agree on a consensual candidate to run against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Egypt
Qatari crisis seeps into UNESCO elections The Qatari crisis has cast a shadow across the election of UNESCO's next director-general with competing candidates from Egypt and Qatar. Saudi Arabia
Dignity for Israel's disabled, Holocaust survivors Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and others shamefully abandoned the disabled and Holocaust survivors. Israel
Pentagon stops paying peshmerga salaries amid Kurdish independence backlash The Donald Trump administration has allowed a yearlong deal to pay stipends to the Kurdish militia to expire. Iraq
'The Insult' tops box office in Lebanon Ziad Doueiri’s latest film has been out three weeks and it’s at the top of the box office ever since, taking almost 50% of total film admissions. Lebanon
