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
Cyber attacks increasingly penetrating Israel’s politics Israeli researchers fear that cyberwar in the form of fake social media accounts or even attacks on the vote count could plague the upcoming election year. Israel
Egypt turns jails into economic hubs to outpace inflation As commodity prices continue to increase, Egyptians are resorting to products made in prisons under the government’s policy to encourage detainees to work and learn trades. Egypt
Israel's defense minister pushes death penalty for terrorists Despite objections by Israel's security and defense establishments, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman a green light to push ahead with a bill allowing military courts to more easily sentence terrorists to death. Palestine
Netanyahu checkmates Likud rivals, again Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing an amendment to the Basic Law on the government to ensure that President Reuven Rivlin cannot ask a Likud rival to form the next government. Israel
Egypt's trees threatened by urbanization Egypt, which has one of the most alarming levels of pollution in the Middle East, needs to preserve its green spaces, but government bodies shirk responsibility. Egypt
Erdogan slams US-Kurdish patrols near Syria border In a speech to parliament, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chastised the United States for supporting Kurdish militias in Syria and reimposing “imperialist” sanctions on Iran. Saudi Arabia
Turkey caps off Year of Troy with new museum As Turkey celebrates the 20th anniversary of Troy's inclusion in the Unesco World Heritage List, a new museum brings its 4,000 years of history and legends to life. Turkey
Kurds unite in new effort against linguistic assimilation in Turkey In a rare show of unity, nine Kurdish parties in Turkey have established a joint platform to promote the use of the Kurdish language against what they see as a creeping danger of assimilation. Turkey
Iranians deride US 'gaffes' in sanctions list While reimposed US sanctions on Iran must be biting economically, defiant Iranians, including their foreign minister, found relief of sorts in a US Treasury list that banned a sunken oil tanker. United States
