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
After the Israeli Elections, The Need for a Peace Process Nassif Hitti considers the prospects for a new approach to the Middle East after the Israeli elections. Israel
Arabs Should Test Obama On Israeli-Palestinian Peace Arabs should soon test whether the second Obama administration is serious about Israeli-Palestinian peace, writes Clovis Maksoud. Palestine
Netanyahu's Third Term: Last Chance to Make History After being re-elected and before beginning the task of forming a coalition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would do well to redefine his goals and his vision for his third term in office, writes Nadav Perry. Israel
Obama Should Review US Middle East Policy Clovis Maksoud writes about the state of US-Israel relations and the hope that the second Obama administration will pursue a viable peace process. Israel
Syria Requires Political Solution; Iran in Gaza; Turkey’s Kurds Each week Al-Monitor provides unmatched original content from the Middle East to uncover the trends as we cover the news. Here are just five of the trends we have been following this week based on reporting and analysis by our regional correspondents. Originals
Turkey Angered by Petition On White House Website A petition on the White House website calling for Turkey to open its borders to Armenian-Syrian refugees has provoked a reaction from the Turkish Foreign Ministry as the Syrian crisis now appears linked to other issues in US-Turkey-Armenia relations. Turkey
Israeli Elections: Apathy in Gaza, Apprehension in West Bank While Gaza seems to ignore the Israeli elections, Palestinian leaders in the West Bank worry about the emergence of a right-wing coalition government, writes Shlomi Eldar. Palestine
Ten Things Libya Can Learn From Egypt’s Constitution Bassem Sabry offers lessons for Libya’s constitutional process, based upon Egypt’s experience. Egypt
Robocalls Playing Bigger Role In Israeli Elections Mazal Mualem presents the 2013 model of Israeli elections, where the digital world has driven out the old world of billboards and speeches on town squares. Israel
Palestinians Face Limits on Internet, Cell Phones Daoud Kuttab reports on the restrictions and limits on cell phone and wireless internet use faced by Palestinians, and the importance of full membership in the International Telecommunications Union. Palestine
Prospects Dim for Turkey's Ties With Israel Semih Idiz reviews Turkish-Israeli ties and sees no incentive for Ankara to improve ties with Israel at this time. Turkey
Lebanese Minister Survives Convoy Attack Lebanese Minister of Youth and Sports Faisal Karami survived an attack on his convoy by Salafist protesters on Jan. 18 in the northern city of Tripoli, reports Jean Aziz. Lebanon
