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
Late Iranian president's son on road to become Tehran mayor Mohsen Hashemi, the oldest son of late Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, may become mayor of the country’s capital. Iran
The struggle of Egypt's transgender community Many transgender Egyptians still run into society’s conservative wall, despite some tolerance by the younger generation. Egypt
Why have recent mass Palestinian protests been limited to Gaza? The recent mass protests along the Gaza-Israel border raise questions as to why similar events aren't happening in the West Bank. Palestine
Who's to blame for failed Palestinian reconciliation? The recent accusations by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blaming Hamas for orchestrating the attack against Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah seem to have terminated hopes of a Palestinian reconciliation in the near term. Palestine
More than meets the eye to sale of Turkish media giant The sale of Turkey’s biggest media group, Dogan Media Company, is likely to negatively affect the health of the country’s economy while diminishing access to accurate information from and within Turkey. Turkey
Turkish firm brings light back to struggling Syrian city Turkey plans to help restore utilities and other services to Syrian towns, starting with a new power plant for the city of Azaz, which has been running on generators. Syria
Energy, military cooperation dominate Putin’s visit to Turkey Turkey anticipates even deeper ties with Russia as the two countries embark on massive development projects and a major military contract. Turkey
Egypt struggles to edge Qatar out of Palestine Egypt is trying to block Qatar from the Palestinian scene, but Israel is unlikely to be moved by its efforts, counting on the Qatari assistance that has helped avoid a humanitarian crisis. Qatar
Gazans hope protests lead to change as border clashes turn deadly Thousands of Palestinians participated in Friday protests along the Gaza-Israel border for the second week in a row, with clashes leaving at least seven dead. Palestine
Iraqi churches shoulder burden of reconstruction, for now In Iraq, churches have taken the lead in persuading and helping Christians return to towns razed by the Islamic State. Iraq
Turkey ramps up pharmaceutical expansion Amid a wave of government-driven nationalism, Turkey’s latest “national” project is to develop a strong pharmaceutical sector. Turkey
Humiliated Netanyahu scapegoats pro-democracy NGO Frantic to extract himself from his immigration failure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accusing a US-based nongovernmental organization called the New Israel Fund of sabotaging an agreement with Rwanda. Israel
