Originals - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Originals

Palestinian supporters of the Hamas movement wave flags as they rally against Israel's plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip, on June 19, 2020. - Israel intends to annex West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, as proposed by US President Donald Trump, with initial steps slated to begin from July 1. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

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!

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.

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.

A worker unloads a refrigerated truck carrying the first delivery of coronavirus vaccine via the United Nations Covax programme supporting poorer areas, to be kept at Palestinian Authority's storage facility in the West Bank city of Nablus, on March 17, 2021. - The Palestinian Authority said that vaccination would begin at the end of this week, primarily for those aged over 75, cancer patients and medical personnel.
Earlier, some 60,000 doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines allocated to the Palestinians

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.

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Tunisian president meets new Libyan unity government

Iran operating new advanced centrifuges, nuclear watchdog finds

A cameraman arrives at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),prior to a press conference at the agency's headquarters in Vienna on March 4, 2021. - European nations will not go ahead with a planned resolution criticising Iran at this week's meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, diplomatic sources said on March 4, 2021. (Photo by ALEX HALADA / AFP) (Photo by ALEX HALADA/AFP via Getty Images)

Lawsuit filed to close pro-Kurdish party after lawmaker stripped of parliamentary seat

Turkish member of Parliament for the left wing political party Peoples' Democratic Party Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu (C) reacts as he is surrounded by MPs applauding and brandishing placards after he was dismissed following a vote at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, on March 17, 2021. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli and Emirati rugby teams to play each other for first time

United Arab Emirates

Supporters wave Turkish national and party flags as they shout slogans outside the AK Party headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, June 7, 2015. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's hopes of assuming greater powers suffered a serious blow on Sunday when the ruling AK Party failed to win an outright majority in a parliamentary election, partial results showed. With 94 percent of ballots counted, the AKP had taken 41 percent of the vote, according to broadcaster CNN Turk, a result which will leave it struggling to for

Will AKP's losses spark Turkish re-think on Syria?

The ruling Justice and Development Party lost Kurdish support over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Syria policies; Eastern patriarchs meet in Damascus to reassure Middle East Christian communities.

Selahattin Demirtas (C), co-leader of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), talks to the media in Diyarbakir, Turkey, June 12, 2015. The leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition party on Friday accused figures within the state of links to violence in the largely Kurdish southeastern province of Diyarbakir this week, which left four dead. The violence between different Kurdish factions came days after a parliamentary election which saw the ruling AK Party lose its majority, casting doubt over stalled

Turkish politics no longer one-man show

Turkey's June 7 parliamentary elections signaled a resounding loss for the ruling Justice and Development Party, so what are its options?

Women protest against the government and violence against women, a day after International Women's Day in Istanbul March 9, 2014. On March 8 activists around the globe celebrate International Women's Day, which dates back to the beginning of the 20th Century and has been observed by the United Nations since 1975. The UN writes that it is an occasion to commemorate achievements in women's rights and to call for further change. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3GB8T

Turkish court makes landmark ruling on women’s murders

In a first for Turkey, a court has penalized the state for failing to protect a woman who was killed by her husband.

Iranian former Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref (C), attends the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) party meeting in Tehran on January 15,2015. Iranian reformers gathered in Tehran, the first since 2009, with the ambition to return parliament to conservative control in the 2016 parliamentary elections, taking advantage of the momentum that carried Hassan Rohani to president in 2013. AFP PHOTO/ ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

Are Reformists, Rouhani heading for split?

After supporting Hassan Rouhani in the presidential elections, Reformists expect Rouhani to repay them with support in the parliamentary elections, but that may not be the case.

A statue of the Holy Virgin Mary of Fatima is carried during a candlelight vigil at the Fatima holy shrine in central Portugal May 12, 2014. Thousands of pilgrims are on their way to the Fatima Shrine to attend the 97th anniversary celebrations of the first appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in 1917. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante (PORTUGAL - Tags: ANNIVERSARY SOCIETY RELIGION) - RTR3OV1C

Lebanese turn to faith to break political stalemate

The statue of Portugal's Our Lady Fatima will visit several regions in Lebanon in a convoy of Christian leaders, many of whom believe that the tour will help Lebanon elect a president.

Likud legislator Miri Regev, a former brigadier general and political hardliner of Moroccan origin, looks out a car window during a campaign stop in Netanya, north of Tel Aviv February 25, 2015. Israel's Sephardic community, Jews of Middle Eastern descent, have traditionally been the Likud party's backbone. But political analysts say Sephardim, disproportionately poorer than Israel's Ashkenazi Jews with roots in Europe, may throw their support elsewhere in the March 17 election, angry over the high cost of

Is Israel's culture minister drunk with power?

Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev is fond of reminding artists and cultural institutions that she has the power to determine their fate, including withholding funds if they fail to meet her standards of patriotism.

A Palestinian goalkeeper practices fielding shots in a file photo at the Gaza football stadium where a large mural of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat hangs behind the goal. The Palestinian national football team is now playing in its first international tournament in Hong Kong in the Asian Group 3 qualifying competition for next year's World Cup finals. The team returns to the Middle East for its next World Cup qualifier on March 20 when it plays in Qatar.

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Gaza soccer players work hard for little pay

Professional Palestinian soccer players, especially those in the Gaza Strip, are bound by restrictive contracts and low pay.

A man walks past abandoned buildings in the northern Syrian town of Kobani January 30, 2015. Sheets meant to hide residents from snipers' sights still hang over streets in the Syrian border town of Kobani, and its shattered buildings and cratered roads suggest those who fled are unlikely to return soon. Kurdish forces said this week they had taken full control of Kobani, a mainly Kurdish town near the Turkish border, after months of bombardment by Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has spread across S

The Islamic State's scorched earth policy in Kobani

Since the Islamic State was defeated in Kobani in January, the group has been setting ablaze the crops of the residents there.

Palestinian men take part in Friday prayers as the Dome of the Rock on the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City is seen in the background May 29, 2015. Picture taken May 29, 2015. To match Special Report ISRAEL-JERUSALEM/DOME REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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Arabs divided on visiting Jerusalem

Political and religious authorities in Palestine continue to disagree on visits by Arabs and Muslims from around the world to Jerusalem, split between seeing such trips as defiant support of Palestine and as normalizing relations with Israel.

The U.S. Capitol dome in Washington, August 2, 2011. The United States is poised to step back from the brink of economic disaster on Tuesday when a bitterly fought deal to cut the budget deficit is expected to clear its final hurdles in the U.S. Senate. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTR2PJWQ

Congress seeks to kill Obama's counterterrorism fund

The Senate spending panel approved legislation to defund the president's signature proposal.

Negotiators of Iran and six world powers face each other at a table in the historic basement of Palais Coburg hotel in Vienna April 24, 2015. Nuclear talks are making good but slow progress as they work towards a June 30 deadline for a final deal, Tehran's senior negotiator Abbas Araqchi said on Friday. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader - RTX1A5EA

Iran talks may go into overtime

Negotiators are focused on the June 30 target for reaching a final Iran nuclear deal, a US official said June 10, but brinksmanship may push Iran talks past the deadline as each side waits to see if the other will make concessions.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Russian Foreign Secretary Sergey Lavrov after a news conference at the presidential residence of Bocharov Ruchey in Sochi, Russia May 12, 2015. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RTX1CO82

US-Russia relations still tense after Kerry's visit

US Secretary of State John Kerry's recent visit to Moscow was indicative of the US policy of "selective engagement" with Russia.