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
What the world is telling Palestinians, Israelis and Trump European diplomats believe the international attendance at the second Paris conference reflects broad support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestine
Losing ground in north, IS targets Iraq's Shiite south As the Islamic State is attacked from all sides in Mosul, it is making a last ditch effort to disrupt military operations by carrying out attacks in Iraq's predominately Shiite province of Najaf. Iraq
Will Gaza's electricity crisis escalate Hamas-Israel tension? Gaza residents are furious at Hamas for pouring funds into the tunnel enterprise while they are left without electricity, and Israel is wary of attacks as distraction from their mass demonstrations. Palestine
Tunisia’s top diplomat exhorts Trump not to abandon Palestinian statehood In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui urged the president-elect not to give up on Middle East peace. Palestine
Rouhani: Nuclear deal renegotiation 'meaningless' Following the death of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iranian hard-liners found a new target to attack: Ali Akbar Nategh-Nuri. Meanwhile, President Rouhani dismisses a renegotiation of the nuclear deal, a point brought up by figures close to President-elect Trump, as “meaningless.” United States
Top suspect in New Year's Eve massacre caught in Istanbul The manhunt is over for the prime suspect in the New Year's Eve Istanbul nightclub shooting, and Abdulgadir Masharipov has reportedly confessed to the murders. Turkey
Erdogan calls dollar and euro holders 'terrorists' Turkey’s president has likened dollar and euro holders to terrorists armed with guns and bombs, deepening further the controversy on how the country will overcome its foreign-exchange crunch. Turkey
Ordinary citizens in Iran rally to save death-row prisoners An increasing number of ordinary Iranians are campaigning to convince families of crime victims to forgive convicts on death row. Iran
Syrian women in Egypt find solidarity in stylist classes Cosmetology classes help displaced Syrian women form bonds and start fashion careers in Egypt. Egypt
Will Arab Knesset member be impeached? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to transform the issue of impeaching Arab Knesset member Basel Ghattas into a question of patriotism, thus forcing opposition members to support such a move. Israel
How Netanyahu eroded public trust in free press Revelations of links between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and different media tycoons have eroded Israeli citizens’ trust in democracy and free press. Israel
Egypt grand imam's call for peace in Myanmar sparks backlash at home The speech of Al-Azhar's grand imam, Ahmed al-Tayeb, at a peace conference in Cairo raised the usual controversy with some Salafists, who thought his address was not in line with Islamic teachings. Egypt
