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
Hamas Maintains Ties With Iran Despite Difference Over Syria Despite a strain in ties over the Syrian crisis, Hamas is still interested in maintaining relations with Iran, Abeer Ayyoub reports. Palestine
Turkey Cannot Solve PKK Terror Without Solving Kurdish Issue Kadri Gursel writes that the current talks between the Turkish government and Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned head of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), cannot disentangle the problem of PKK terrorism from a political solution to Turkey's Kurdish issue. Turkey
Kuwait Cracks Down on Dissent, Twitter Mona Kareem documents the Kuwaiti government's crackdown on dissent through Twitter. Legacy: Gulf
Lapid Debunks Five Myths About the Israeli Elections Mazal Mualem reviews five lessons learned from the Israeli elections. Israel
Prisoner Release Raises Questions About Role of Iraqi Courts The role of Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani in the release of dozens of prisoners has raised questions about both the Iraqi courts and the reasons for the release, writes Mushreq Abbas. Iraq
PA Seeks UNESCO Protection For Threatened Village The Palestinian Authority has turned to UNESCO to save an ancient West Bank village threatened by Israel's separation barrier, Lena Odgaard reports. Palestine
Palestinian Reconciliation Hits Snag, Again The arrest of journalists in Gaza and the visit by Malaysia's prime minister to the Strip have added strain to reconciliation efforts, Daoud Kuttab writes. Palestine
New Al-Qaeda Generation May Be Deadliest One Al-Qaeda has exploited the chaos and turmoil of revolutionary change in the Arab world to create operational bases and new strongholds, writes Bruce Riedel. Algeria
Israeli Election Boycott by Arabs A Vote Against Their Own MKs The Israeli Arabs' abstention from voting expressed a much more profound disappointment in their own Knesset members than in the Israeli electoral system, writes Shlomi Eldar. Palestine
Setting the Record Straight On Hagel, Iran Sanctions Chuck Hagel’s record on Iran sanctions shows a clear understanding of the threat from Iran. Iran
Year-Old Virtual US Embassy in Iran Tallies Its Hits and Misses A virtual US embassy provides Iranians with news and services, but is no substitute for the real thing, reports Barbara Slavin. Iran
Elections Unlikely to Change Israel’s Iran Strategy The results of the recent Israeli elections are unlikely to bring much change to Israel’s Iran strategy, writes Meir Javedanfar. Israel
