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
Palestinian Shoe Industry Declines in Hebron Once boasting a thriving shoe industry, Hebron is struggling to compete with cheap Chinese imports and Israeli control of the economy, Jihan Abdalla reports. Palestine
Palestinian Union Boss Emerges as Power Broker Union head Bassam Zakarneh, who has recently steered several mass strikes, is one of the most powerful men in the West Bank, Daoud Kuttab writes. Palestine
Israel Arresting Children To Prevent Third Intifada Israel is arresting and mistreating Palestinian children to prevent a third intifada, Jillian Kestler-D'amours reports. Palestine
New March 14 Group to Launch In Lebanon Next Week Next week will see the birth of a new current that intends to recapture the spirit of the Lebanese March 14 Movement under the guidance of former MP Samir Franjieh, writes Elie al-Hajj. Lebanon
Egypt's Brotherhood Struggles To Govern The Muslim Brotherhood’s incompetence to date in governance is because of its lack of political experience, not its Islamist ideology, Khalil al-Anani writes. Egypt
Iraqi Provincial Elections Postponed in Anbar As protests continue in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, local authorities have decided to postpone provincial elections scheduled for April 20, writes Ali Abel Sadah. Iraq
Moshe Ya'alon Will Bring Balance To Israeli Defense Ministry Ben Caspit retraces the career of Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon, the expected choice for defense minister in the new Israeli government. Palestine
New Israeli Defense Minister No Threat to Netanyahu's Policies Israel's next defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, is not expected to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Iranian threat or the Palestinians issue, writes Mazal Mualem. Palestine
Lebanese Elections: Three Scenarios As Shiite, Sunni and Christian considerations threaten to disrupt and even cancel the Lebanese elections scheduled for this summer, Jean Aziz outlines the three potential paths developments could take in the near future. Lebanon
Visiting Nablus Since Last Intifada Shows Renewed City After 10 years, Shlomi Eldar returns to Nablus and discovers it different from the city he remembers from the second intifada. Palestine
Three Powerful Men Decide Turkey's Future Kadri Gursel writes on the three men who are critical to Turkey’s future: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned head of the Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK]; and Fethullah Gulen, exiled head of the Gulen Sunni movement. Turkey
Iran's Man in Iraq and Syria Iranian Quds Forces leader Qasem Soleimani, who played a central role in post-2003 Iraq, has taken a different slant in his approach to the Syrian conflict, writes Mushreq Abbas. Iraq
