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
Jordanians, Palestinians jump-start economic relations The first meeting in three years of the Joint Higher Jordanian-Palestinian Committee was deemed positive, with agreements signed in a number of sectors. Palestine
Landmark ruling could have big implications for Libya's leaders A recent judicial decision ruling that the former head of Libya's Constitutional Assembly should not have been elected given an oft-disregarded law that bans dual citizens from public office could have wide-ranging implications. Libya
Hamas invites Russia to play role in Palestinian affairs As new global crises overshadow the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Hamas seeks to give Russia a wider scope of involvement in a variety of Palestinian issues. Palestine
Sisi launches academy to train Egypt's next generation of politicians Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has established a national academy aimed at training young people to enter political life, but some are questioning the real intention. Egypt
How Israeli settlers turn archaeological sites into political tools In Jerusalem and across the West Bank, settlers exploit archaeological sites as ideological-political tools. Palestine
Ex-Netanyahu national security adviser urges US to keep Iran deal Former Israeli National Security Adviser Uzi Arad urges Washington to build on the 2015 Iran nuclear accord rather than abandon it. Israel
Can Congress avoid blowing up the Iran deal? If President Donald Trump doesn’t certify Iranian compliance with the 2015 agreement later this month, the US Senate only needs a bare majority to reinstate deal-breaking sanctions. Congress
Challenges still stalk Syrian peace efforts Despite the apparent progress in peace talks, there's still a lot of maneuvering going on in Syria — on the ground and among the many parties involved. Syria
Turkish bluster hides shaky leverage over KRG Despite Turkish threats to block Iraqi Kurdistan's oil exports, the Kurdistan Region's pipeline and main Habur border crossing are still open. Iraq
Iranian media takes interest in Catalan independence Iranian media has given widely positive coverage of the Catalan independence referendum, contrasting its critical coverage of last week's Iraqi Kurdistan vote. Iran
‘The last Iranian Americans’ The Trump administration’s "Travel Ban 3.0" runs the risk of turning current Iranian Americans into the last of their kind. United States
Turkey’s military options in Iraq and Syria hinge on US and Russia Any Turkish military move into northern Iraq or northern Syria seems highly unlikely without US or Russian consent respectively. Iraq
