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
Iraqi Provincial Law Renews Debate Over Centralization Whether Iraq’s various regions and provinces should be governed in a more centralized or decentralized manner continues as the focal point of political conflict in the country. Iraq
Turkish Leadership Demoralized By Coup in Egypt The Turkey-Egypt axis is a thing of the past, at least for now. Egypt
Failed Banking System Prompts Iraqis to Hoard Gold As Iraq continues to suffer from an array of security problems, citizens have lost faith in the banking sector and are converting their money to gold to store at home. Iraq
Fuel Crisis Threatens Gaza After Egypt Border Closure Egypt's decision to close the Rafah crossing amid the recent unrest risks plunging Gaza into a crisis of its own. Palestine
UN Role in Post-Conflict Syria Depends on Geneva With no date set for the Geneva Conference, the UN has so far been unable to come up with a peacekeeping plan for Syria. Syria
Who Will Stand With Egyptian Democracy? It appears that not enough attention is being paid to the rights of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose inclusion is necessary for Egypt to move forward democratically. Egypt
Iran’s Need for Agricultural Reform President-elect Hassan Rouhani may want to pay more attention to Iran’s agricultural sector, which has suffered under previous administrations. Iran
Egypt Loses Leadership Role Potential As Well as President The Morsi presidency could have helped resolve the region’s myriad conflicts if it had achieved reconciliation at home. Egypt
Egypt’s North Sinai Under Curfew Following Deadly Clashes Sinai is divided by the coup which overthrew Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Egypt
Abu Mazen: I Will Not Utter The Words ‘Armed Resistance’ Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, while visiting Beirut, said he was ready to reconcile with Hamas and that he unequivocally rejected armed resistance against Israel, stressiong “peaceful” and “diplomatic” resistance. Palestine
Egyptian Coup Shakes Turkey Turkey struggles to find the right response to the military coup in Egypt. Egypt
