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
Lebanese Elections Likely to Face Postponement As the debate regarding the Orthodox Gathering law rages on, amid a complicated web of alliances between Lebanon’s sectarian contingents, elections are unlikely to take place according to schedule, writes Elie Hajj. Lebanon
High Stakes for Erdogan In Turkish Talks With PKK Semih Idiz considers whether Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan are speaking past each other in the current Imrali process. Turkey
'Regime Can’t Go On Like This,' Says Syrian Opposition Leader Cengiz Çandar talks with Sheikh Moaz al-Khatib, leader of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, about the roles and interests of the United States, Russia and Iran in Syria and his efforts to arrive at a solution to the crisis. Turkey
Iraqi Provincial Election Campaigns Begin The electoral campaigns are starting for the April 2013 elections, with calls from senior clerics for clean campaigning by candidates, writes Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Iraq
Palestinian Women Set Back By Conservative Society Recent moves against women's rights in Gaza show a retraction of the once revered role of Palestinian women in the resistance, Daoud Kuttab writes. Palestine
World Powers Blinked First In Iran Nuclear Talks Alon Ben David writes that the outcome of the nuclear talks in Kazakhstan has put the option of an Israeli attack back on the agenda in Jerusalem. Israel
Dissension Emerges Among Islamists In Egypt, Tunisia The divisions among Islamic parties have hampered stability and governance in Egypt and Tunisia, writes Nassif Hitti. Egypt
Feminists Empower Opposition In New Israeli Knesset Mazal Mualem foresees the new Knesset opposition parties to be both diverse and formidable. Israel
Arab Women in Israel: From Oppression to Empowerment Amal Abu Sayyaf, a doctoral candidate from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, levels some harsh charges against the tolerance shown by Israeli society toward the phenomenon of oppressed Arab women, writes Shlomi Eldar. Israel
My Mother Inspired Us to Fight For Palestinian Rights On International Women’s Day, lawyer-activist Shireen Issawi writes about how her mother inspired her and her brother, Samer Issawi, who has been on a hunger strike in an Israeli prison for some 222 days, to fight for Palestinian independence. Palestine
Turkey Upgrades Palestinian Ties Although Turkey’s consul general in Jerusalem will present his letter of accreditation to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, Turkish diplomatic sources insist that Turkey is not “appointing an ambassador to Palestine,” writes Tulin Daloglu. Turkey
Iraqi Kurds Seek Recognition Of Genocide by Saddam Nearly 25 years after the Iraqi Kurdish city of Halabja was attacked with chemical weapons, the Kurdistan Regional Government continues to seek international recognition of the Anfal as genocide, reports Abdel Hamid Zebari. Iraq
