Originals - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Originals

Palestinian supporters of the Hamas movement wave flags as they rally against Israel's plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip, on June 19, 2020. - Israel intends to annex West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, as proposed by US President Donald Trump, with initial steps slated to begin from July 1. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

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!

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.

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.

A worker unloads a refrigerated truck carrying the first delivery of coronavirus vaccine via the United Nations Covax programme supporting poorer areas, to be kept at Palestinian Authority's storage facility in the West Bank city of Nablus, on March 17, 2021. - The Palestinian Authority said that vaccination would begin at the end of this week, primarily for those aged over 75, cancer patients and medical personnel.
Earlier, some 60,000 doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines allocated to the Palestinians

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.

Latest News

Tunisian president meets new Libyan unity government

Iran operating new advanced centrifuges, nuclear watchdog finds

A cameraman arrives at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),prior to a press conference at the agency's headquarters in Vienna on March 4, 2021. - European nations will not go ahead with a planned resolution criticising Iran at this week's meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, diplomatic sources said on March 4, 2021. (Photo by ALEX HALADA / AFP) (Photo by ALEX HALADA/AFP via Getty Images)

Lawsuit filed to close pro-Kurdish party after lawmaker stripped of parliamentary seat

Turkish member of Parliament for the left wing political party Peoples' Democratic Party Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu (C) reacts as he is surrounded by MPs applauding and brandishing placards after he was dismissed following a vote at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, on March 17, 2021. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli and Emirati rugby teams to play each other for first time

United Arab Emirates

People march and shout slogans during a protest against the lack of jobs and poverty in Jerada, Morocco February 10, 2018. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal - RC13615CF410

Moroccan government lashes out at protest organizers in mining town

The Moroccan government has accused Islamist and leftist movements of being behind the ongoing protests in the city of Jerada.

Abbas' decision to ban official travel to Gaza sparks controversy

Following the bombing that targeted Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah during his visit to Gaza, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas banned PA officials from traveling to the strip.

Are Palestinians contemplating one-state solution?

Now that demography indicates a Palestinian majority between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, a one-state solution could replace the vision of an independent Palestinian state.

Netanyahu moves to co-opt Independence Day celebrations

Despite the tradition of the Knesset leading the April 18 festivities as a gesture of Israeli unity, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to preside over the celebrations himself.

African migrants walk behind a fence as they leave Holot detention centre in Israel's southern Negev desert August 25, 2015. Israel on Tuesday began releasing some 1,200 African migrants whom it has interned for more than a year in the detention centre. Under the terms of their release, they are banned from living or working in Tel Aviv and the southern resort city of Eilat, which both have large migrant communities. Two weeks ago, Israelís Supreme Court reduced from 20 months to 12 months the period of tim

Netanyahu clashes with left-wing US Jews over migrants, Gaza

The latest actions by Israel’s right-wing government are further straining historically bipartisan support in Congress.

U.S forces on their military vehicle drive in the town of Darbasiya next to the Turkish border, Syria April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RC16478B0600

White House says anti-IS fight in Syria ‘coming to rapid end’

The White House signaled that its mission in Syria will be focused on the narrow task of finishing off the Islamic State and will leave it to others to fund and conduct post-IS stabilization.

Presidents Hassan Rouhani of Iran, Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Vladimir Putin of Russia pose before their meeting in Ankara, Turkey April 4, 2018. Tolga Bozoglu/Pool via Reuters - RC1BFF99A690

Erdogan, Putin, Rouhani tout alliance, eye US for next move

The presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran emerged from a summit on Syria as a united front, though the image hardly indicates an alignment in their priorities.

Presidents Hassan Rouhani of Iran, Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Vladimir Putin of Russia hold a joint news conference after their meeting in Ankara, Turkey April 4, 2018. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RC15EBBB9000

Turkey hosts Iran, Russia to discuss Syria’s future

Iran’s president traveled to Ankara for the second trilateral summit on Syria with Turkish and Russian counterparts.

Turkey offers death benefits to its Syrian anti-Kurdish allies

Kudos bestowed on Turkey's Free Syrian Army allies for their performance in Operation Olive Branch appear to have earned the fighters additional financial and medical support from the Turkish government.

Aspiring filmmaker brings visual tricks to Gazans

With basic equipment, aspiring filmmaker Mahmoud Alzaq takes his YouTube followers on a journey of visual tricks and illusions.

Iranian soldiers recover an unexploded anti tank mine, January 21, 2001, left over from the 1980-1988 war with Iraq using a metal detector and spike but no protective clothing. Iran and Iraq declared a cease-fire, but have not signed a formal peace treaty, therefore, Iran does not have access to maps of the minefields laid by retreating Iraqi forces. Army officials estimate that of 1,800,000 hectares of Iran's border with Iraq which was mined, 700,000 hectares have been cleared with no international assista

Iran-Iraq War continues to claim lives

The vast number of anti-personnel mines planted during the Iran-Iraq War continue to maim and kill on both sides of the border, but Iran refuses to engage states and organizations with experience in de-mining.

Why Netanyahu’s flip-flopping endangers Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu caved under light pressure from the Israeli right and canceled an agreement he'd just reached with the UN on African immigrants.