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
Ethiopian water minister determined to continue Renaissance Dam construction In an Al-Monitor interview in Cairo, Ethiopian Minister for Water, Irrigation and Energy Motuma Mekasa expressed his country's determination to continue construction on the Renaissance Dam despite the lack of studies on its impact. Egypt
Is it time for Israel to revisit its relationship with Sunni bloc? With Iran fighting against IS forces, and in view of IS’ latest terrorism attacks in Egypt, Lebanon and France, the Israeli security establishment is questioning its regional security doctrine. Saudi Arabia
Qatar launches initiative to ease power crisis in Gaza As Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue to suffer from daily power cuts, Qatar proposed to Israelis supplying Gaza with natural gas. Qatar
Israeli budget becomes political playground Ministers Moshe Kahlon, Aryeh Deri and Naftali Bennett each look to appease their constituencies when voting over the 2016 Israeli state budget. Israel
Israel needs calm, not action-movie operations Israel's political and military establishments feel the need to "do something" to appease public opinion in the face of recent violence, but the situation calls for restraint, not excessive actions like the undercover operation at a Hebron hospital. Palestine
Egypt rushes to bolster tourism after Sinai plane crash Egyptian politicians and public figures have created dozens of initiatives to bring tourism back to Sharm el-Sheikh after Western countries decided to suspend their flights to Sinai in response to the Russian plane crash there. Egypt
Jordan tasked with establishing terrorist blacklist for Syria talks Islamic State terrorism in France and Lebanon leads to new peace plan for Syria; Hamas and Islamic Jihad seek advantage from Palestinian uprising. Palestine
Paris attacks expose tensions in Turkey Comments, both arrogant and jubilant, celebrating Paris massacre on social media rub salt into the unhealed wounds of IS attacks in Turkey. Turkey
Congress tackles terrorism after Paris attacks Following Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, this week Congress will be addressing issues related to a rise in radicalism and President Obama’s plans to increase the number of refugees admitted from war-torn countries. Syria
How to defeat the Islamic State To defeat the Islamic State, the world powers need a clear-cut, unified strategy to guide the war on terrorism. Legacy: Gulf
Iran shifts approach to fight against alcohol Faced with increasing rates of alcohol consumption, the Iranian authorities are beginning to treat the issue as a public health rather than religious concern. Iran
Israeli right buries head in sand Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to ignore warnings by the Obama administration and by the European Union over the collapse of the two-state solution. Palestine
