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
The European Dilemmas On Arming Syrian Rebels An initiative to lift the European Union’s arms embargo to Syria and increase support to rebels has been met with strong EU opposition; the EU is unlikely to move further on that issue. Syria
Obama Misses TargetWith Nowruz Message Sasan Aghlani writes that the message delivered in US President Barack Obama's annual Nowruz speech indicates that he fails to understand his target audiences and the effects of sanctions on Iran. Iran
Will Jordan Allow Syria's Palestinian Refugees to Resettle? As the 2-year-old civil war in Syria drags on and refugees continue to stream from Syria into Jordan, Adnan Abu Amer asks whether Jordan will consider resettling Syria’s Palestinian refugees. Palestine
Palestinian Journalists BannedFrom Covering Obama Visit Palestinian security revoked the accreditation of 18 Palestinian journalists from covering US President Barack Obama’s visit to Ramallah, most likely due to their political affiliation, writes Daoud Kuttab. Palestine
New Book Argues Talk, Not Bombs, Best Way to Delay a Nuclear Iran In their new book, authors Geoffrey Kemp and John Allen Gay warn that attacking Iran might actually speed up the Iranian nuclear program and cause a "multigenerational catastrophe" if the object is regime change. Iran
Sinai Tourism Hits Rock Bottom, Business Owners Blame Morsi Writing from South Sinai, Mohannad Sabry meets with local business owners in the tourism sector who tell him that they keep hoping for political stability to bring back tourists — but that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's inability to govern has been making a bad situation worse. Egypt
Israeli Soldiers Enter Syrian Golan Heights After Israel was forced to rescue UN forces in the Golan Heights, the UN warned of instability in the Syrian Golan and the danger posed by Syrian rebels affiliated with al-Qaeda, reports Inna Lazareva. Israel
Hamas Reacts to Israeli Apology To Turkey Israel's apology to Turkey is welcomed by Palestinians including Hamas and raises expectations for a lifting of the blockade on Gaza, writes Hazem Balousha. Palestine
Does Turkey Have a Roadmap For Peace With the PKK? Orhan Kemal Cengiz is not sure that the Turkish government has a comprehensive peace plan, and says that if they do the PKK is certainly unaware of it. Turkey
Israeli Apology May Restore Turkey's Regional Influence Israel's recent apology to Turkey over the Mavi Marmara raid offers Turkey a chance to regain its lost political influence in the region, writes Semih Idiz. Turkey
Palestinian Activists Prepare For Refugee Return Palestinian activists are taking practical measures to prepare for the return of refugees, Jillian Kestler-D’amours writes. Israel
Gaza Reporters Boycott Forum On Hamas' New Laws for Media Hamas has drafted a new media law that many local journalists claim restricts freedom of expression, Abeer Ayyoub reports. Palestine
