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
Palestinian media outlets commit to more coverage of women’s affairs Several Palestinian media outlets from the West Bank and Gaza Strip signed a charter, drafted by the Ministry of Women's Affairs, to cover more issues about women and raise awareness about their rights. Palestine
Shiite trio competes for power in Iraq With upcoming local and parliamentary elections in Iraq, three Shiite leaders are grappling for more control in the next government. Iraq
Israel's chronic impunity disorder With so many politicians suspected or convicted of corruption, Israelis have given up on expecting public figures to have morals. Palestine
Palestinian college students rush to take Chinese language course Although teaching the Chinese language is in its early stages at Birzeit University, it is an important step to broaden students’ work and studying horizons, especially given China's growing economic and political roles in the Middle East and the world. Palestine
Egypt's underwater antiquities travel the world Egyptian antiquities discovered in the now sunken city of Heracleion and nearby towns are being displayed in exhibits worldwide in a bid to revive Egypt's declining tourism sector. Egypt
Cinema lovers campaign to reopen theaters in Upper Egypt Egyptians have created a social media campaign calling on the government to bring cinemas back to conservative Upper Egypt. Egypt
Turkish media mogul in court after publishing controversial story One day after Turkey's president blasted media mogul Aydin Dogan over a Hurriyet story he said sowed discord between the government and the armed forces, Dogan, who is also US President Donald Trump’s business partner, has been summoned to appear in court over fuel-smuggling accusations nearly a decade old. Turkey
Did Iran’s foreign minister write to Tillerson? An Iranian hard-line member of parliament has claimed that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is engaged in correspondence with the US secretary of state. United States
Turkish court upholds free speech … for Erdogan A Turkish court has given sanction to public insults by the president against dissident academics, yet another omen of how subservient the Turkish judiciary has become. Turkey
Has Israel recognized link between Gaza blockade, security threat? The report of Israel’s state comptroller about the management of the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip evokes officially for the first time the linkage between the distress of Gaza residents and the Hamas campaign against Israel. Palestine
Will Turkey attack Kurds in Manbij or move on to Raqqa? Now that the Syrian army has blocked the road from al-Bab to Raqqa, Turkey may instead assault Manbij, which won’t be easy. Syria
Israel has no Gaza policy A recently published report on the 2014 Gaza war reveals that Israel failed to develop its own goals before launching the war and still has not developed a real strategy concerning the Gaza Strip. Israel
