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
World Jewish body cautiously welcomes Iran outreach, but says words not enough The World Jewish Congress praised Hassan Rouhani's words of tolerance on the Jewish New Year, but noted that words must be followed by "concrete actions." Israel
Russia urges Syria to surrender chemical arms to avert strikes Russia announced that it has given a proposal to the Syrian Government which would require the Syrian regime to place their chemical weapons under international control and allow their subsequent destruction. Syria
Obama, Putin previously discussed plan to secure Syria chemical arms US and Russian officials confirmed that discussions over securing Syria's chemical arms had been talking place for months before the alleged August chemical attack. Syria
Ex IDF intel chief: Plan to remove Syria chemical arms 'important test' Former Israeli Defense Forces intelligence chief Amos Yadlin has said that the removal of chemical weapons from Syria with out US military force would be a "genuine achievement for President Obama." Syria
P5+1 consider strategy for meeting new Iran team in NY New Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif is expected to meet with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in New York this week to discuss the next round of P5+1 Iran nuclear negotiations. Iran
Gaza keeps Israelis glued to the television The war with Gaza has changed Israelis into a people who follow the combat and TV news nonstop, while spending sleepless nights of anguish and days of low economic productivity. Palestine
Why Israel's blockade of Gaza was a mistake Israel's long-standing Gaza blockade policy, which did not bring Hamas down but only provoked it to further arm itself, should be reassessed. Palestine
Officials mum on Lebanese soldier's defection to Jabhat al-Nusra Government officials have refrained from directly commenting on news that a soldier has defected from the Lebanese army to join Jabhat al-Nusra. Lebanon
US Iran team shuffles as nuclear talks set to resume President Obama has nominated senior White House Iran Adviser Puneet Talwar, a member of US delegation to the P5+1 Iran nuclear talks, to be Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs; Rob Malley, a former Clinton administration NSC Middle East adviser, is expected to succeed Talwar. Iran
Israel still looking for a victory in Gaza Hamas has turned the tables on Israel by approaching the latest conflict as a war for its very existence. Palestine
Turkey's Twitter "spies" The political war between the Erdogan government and the Gülen Movement has a propaganda aspect, with each side seeing the other as the proxy of a detested enemy. Israel
Why Barham Salih isn't Iraq's new president Internal politics led to the selection of Fouad Massoum as the Kurdish candidate instead of Barham Salih. Iraq
