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
Hanan Ashrawi: US must act quickly to save two-state solution In this interview with Al-Monitor, PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi speaks about the controversy surrounding Israel’s upcoming report on Gaza, current negotiations and potential solutions. Palestine
MK Frej hopes to build bridges through Arabic prose Arab-Israeli Knesset member Issawi Frej aspires to make Arabic literature accessible to the Israeli public and promotes an initiative for an annual public prize, to be given to Israeli authors writing in Arabic. Israel
US ambassador’s visit to LGBT event sparks outrage in Jordan The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Jordan has been trying to speak up, but it looks like their efforts are not sitting well with those less sympathetic to the cause. Jordan
Will Abdullah Gul return to politics? Following the Justice and Development Party's loss of its parliamentary majority, eyes and ears have turned to the former president and AKP co-founder amid speculation about his next move. Turkey
War makes its presence felt on Yemen The war on Yemen and the internal clashes among factions have caused the country to descend into chaos and slammed the brakes on people’s most primary needs. Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Shafiq’s return flusters Egyptian judiciary Accusations of election fraud in 2012 leveled by the former minister of civil aviation and the last prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, Ahmed Shafiq, return to haunt Egypt’s courts as Shafiq’s possible return to politics starts to materialize. Egypt
Extremist groups transform concept of jihad Extremist Islamic groups have transformed the spiritual concept of jihad, including turning it into a military instrument for implementing political agendas. Iraq
Pan-Islamic movement becomes political player in Palestine Hizb ut-Tahrir in the Palestinian territories emerged as a political party that seeks the return of the Islamic caliphate, unlike Hamas and other Islamic parties that focus on the resistance against Israel. Palestine
Netanyahu must prove 'good faith' to restart peace talks If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is genuinely interested in promoting a new diplomatic peace initiative, he must demonstrate his willingness with actions, such as releasing Palestinian prisoners and working to bolster the Palestinian Authority rather than Hamas. Palestine
Belmokhtar may be dead, but global jihad still alive A US airstrike may have killed top Algerian al-Qaeda jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, but his dream of driving the West out of the Middle East and North Africa remains a "dangerous nightmare." North Africa
Reformist editor: No one pledged ‘allegiance’ to Rouhani An op-ed by an Iranian Reformist editor says that President Hassan Rouhani, despite his winning the 2013 presidential election, does not have people's automatic support, in contrast with previous elections. Iran
Erdogan lost a battle, but perhaps not the war The June 7 elections made Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s authoritarian dreams less certain, but it would be naive to think that he has given them up. Turkey
