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.

Latest News

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

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal talks during a news conference in Doha July 23 ,2014. Meshaal said he was ready to accept a humanitarian truce in Gaza where the Islamist group is fighting an Israeli military offensive, but would not agree to a full ceasefire until the terms had been negotiated. REUTERS/Stringer (QATAR - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR3ZVTJ

Terror list removal may soften Hamas

Hamas might be looking to tone down its rhetoric to translate its recent legal victory into political progress.

A car used as a taxi drives through the streets of Havana December 19, 2014. With Washington agreeing to restore full diplomatic ties that were cut in the early 1960s, Cuba's communist government may not be able to blame its old Cold War nemesis so readily. Cuba has repeatedly sought to dispel the idea that it secretly wanted the embargo in place, saying if the Americans believed that they should challenge Cuba by lifting it. REUTERS/Enrique De La Osa (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY) - RTR4IPO9

Iran sees failure of US sanctions in Cuba decision

Iranian officials are pointing to the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba as an admission that the US policy of sanctions was ineffective.

Armed Shi'ite volunteers from brigades loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr walk during a patrol on the outskirts of Samarra August 2, 2014. Picture taken August 2, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR414MN

Iraqi volunteers' victories don't justify atrocities

The popular mobilization, which is formed of Shiite volunteers to fight the Islamic State, has been both sanctified and demonized in Iraqi media, in light of its success in warding off IS from certain cities, while at the same time committing violations on the battlefield.

Zaman editor-in-chief Ekrem Dumanli greets his supporters after being released by the court outside the Justice Palace in Istanbul December 19, 2014. A Turkish court kept a media executive and three other people in custody on Friday pending trial on accusations of belonging to a terrorist group, in a case which President Tayyip Erdogan has defended as a response to "dirty operations" by his enemies. Hidayet Karaca heads Samanyolu Television which is close to the president's ally-turned foe Fethullah Gulen,

WikiLeaks sheds light on Turkey’s mysterious ‘Annotators’

Were the "Annotators" really terrorists connected to al-Qaeda? Or were they victims of a conspiracy by the “parallel state”? WikiLeaks offers some hints.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SAMMY KETZ
A Syrian man walks past a wall bearing the portraits of soldiers from the city of Tartus, who died during the Syrian conflict, in the city northwest of Damascus on May 18, 2014. Tartus has itself largely escaped the conflict in Syria, but posters of its sons killed fighting for the regime elsewhere in the country line the western city's main road. AFP PHOTO/JOSEPH EID (Photo credit should read JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images)

Syrian regime pursues draft dodgers

The Syrian regime is imposing tough new measures to prevent young men in regime-held areas from avoiding military conscription.

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - MARCH 18: Firemen and rescue workers continue to dig through the ruins of the Israeli Embassy early 18 March 1992 in Buenos Aires after a night of search following the 17 March explosion of a powerful car bomb which virtually destroyed the diplomatic building, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 250. The pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad organization claimed responsability for the attack. (Photo credit should read DANIEL LUNA/AFP/Getty Images)

Lebanon, Argentina arrive at consensus over 1992 attack

Lebanese and Argentine officials recently discussed the 1992 suicide bombing at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, with both sides arriving at the conclusion that Lebanon held no responsibility.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) stands with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat (R) and Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem January 21, 2013. Netanyahu made an election eve appeal to wavering supporters to "come home", showing concern over a forecast far-right surge that would keep him in power but weaken him politically. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3CQJQ

Israeli political parties: Who needs primaries?

Instead of working to preserve the parties' democratic workings, Tzipi Livni, Yair Lapid and Moshe Kahlon opted to gain sole control.

Constitutional Court Chairman Hasim Kilic, the chief justice, addresses media in Ankara July 7, 2010. Turkey's top court rejected an appeal by the opposition to annul the whole of a government-backed reform package overhauling the constitution, but annulled some key parts of the package. The court's chairman Kilic told a news conference the reform charter, barring annulled parts, would go to a referendum as planned. The government says the reform will deepen democracy and help meet requirements for Turkey t

Turkey’s high court could pull rug from under AKP

Turkey's Constitutional Court is to rule on an electoral threshold issue that some believe could end the Justice and Development Party's 12-year rule.

Israelis enjoy Polish-style Christmas Eve dinner

Israelis of Polish origin or affiliation enjoyed a traditional Polish-style Christmas Eve dinner, reminiscing about such occasions back in Poland in the old days when Christians and Jews alike were enjoying this delicious dinner together.

Issac Herzog (L), leader of Israel's Labour party, and former Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni shake hands after their joint news conference in Tel Aviv December 10, 2014. Livni and the center-left parliamentary opposition leader formed a joint election ticket on Wednesday that polls show could pose a serious challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March. REUTERS/Stringer (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR4HICW

Livni, Herzog worry Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fears that Labor Party Chairman Isaac Herzog and former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni will infiltrate "his” diplomatic-defense arena and convince voters that the world is opposed specifically to the right wing's settlement policy, not that “the whole world is against us.”

TO GO WITH STORY BY JOSEPH KRAUSS Muslim men sit at the entrance of a mosque, housing the tombs of the four companions of the Jewish prophet Ezekiel in the little town of Kifl, south of Baghdad, on April 29 2009. Muslims revere nearly all the central religious figures from Judaism and Christianity, including Ezekiel -- the prophet who followed the Judeans into the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC. Between 1948 and 1951 nearly all of Iraq's 2,500-year-old Jewish community fled amid a region-wide outbr

Iraqis hungry for knowledge on country's displaced Jews

Official suppression of the history of Jews forced to leave Iraq in the mid-20th century ended with the toppling of Saddam Hussein and is now being explored in movies and news reports.

U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement about an agreement reached with Iran on its nuclear program at the White House in Washington November 23, 2013. Obama said on Saturday that a deal between Iran and six major powers was an important first step toward a comprehensive solution to Iran's nuclear program. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX15QME

Obama: Diplomacy with Iran has restrained nuclear program

US President Barack Obama says that since the start of the nuclear talks with Iran, it is "probably the first year-and-a-half in which Iran has not advanced its nuclear program in the last decade."