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
Syrian Islamist Rebels Threaten Maaloula, Christians The Aramaic-speaking village of Maaloula, a symbol of religious and sectarian coexistence in Syria, has been invaded and desecrated by Islamist opposition groups. Lebanon
Putin Pleased With Lack of Consensus On Syria at G20 Those who expected no progress on Syria at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg were proven right. Originals
Turkey’s Dialogue Deficit: Less Schadenfreude, More Ubuntu Turkish culture and society would benefit from a shift from schadenfreude to ubuntu. Turkey
Turks Oppose War in Syria A recent Turkish poll shows that those opposed to a war in Syria grew from 57% to 72% over the past year. Syria
Was Turkey's F-4 Shot Down Over Syria by a Lawyer? Only a lawyer has been prosecuted following the shooting down of a Turkish jet over Syrian airspace in June 2012. Syria
Iraq’s Identity Crisis in Symbols In an increasingly divided Iraq, disputes have broken out regarding the use of photography and symbolism that reinforces sectarian, rather than national, affiliations. Iraq
Former Premier of Norway Reflects On Oslo Accords 20 Years Later The latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks could benefit from the compromise, pragmatism and determination that led to Oslo in 1993. Palestine
Mike Tyson Goes to Algeria To Shoot Action Film The former heavyweight champion will work with an international movie team in Algeria for a new action film modeled loosely on “Rambo.” Culture & Society
Erdogan Criticizes Opposition Leader For Visits to Iraq, Egypt Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan feverishly criticizes main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu for his travels to Baghdad and Cairo. Egypt
Blogging in Gaza a Casualty of Arab Spring Gaza's established bloggers lament the decline in traditional blogging as Twitter and Facebook take bigger shares of readership. Palestine
Christians In the Levant Grow Fearful Over US Syria Strike Christians in Syria and Lebanon congregate to discuss the implications for their community should the United States follow through with its plans to carry out military strikes on Syria. Lebanon
Five Lessons From Turkey’s 1998 Standoff With Syria Revisiting the 1998 confrontation with Syria over Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan could help decision makers in Ankara avoid the pitfalls of intervention. Syria
