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

A muezzin of the shrine of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani prays alone since all places of worship remain closed as part of the preventive measures against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Baghdad, Iraq May 13, 2020. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani - RC2ONG91TTPX

Parts of Iraqi capital go under full lockdown after jump in virus cases

Iraq's health minister announced the new restrictions for some areas of Baghdad today.

Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva receives Chinese approval for new Huntington's treatment

The approval to provide the tablets in China that treat the deadly neurological disease is the second in the world after the United States.

ANKARA, TURKEY - MARCH 10: Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) Leader, Devlet Bahceli speaks during his party's group meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, in Ankara, Turkey on March 10, 2020. (Photo by Rasit Aydogan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Turkish opposition trades favors as AKP limps

Turkey’s nationalist party leader Devlet Bahceli has floated a proposal to change electoral laws, fueling rumors of a possible snap election.

Policemen stand next to a patrol car parked along the 6th of October bridge crossing the Nile in the centre of the Egyptian capital Cairo on September 21, 2019. - Protests erupted late on September 20 in Cairo and other Egyptian cities calling for the removal of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in a rare show of dissent quickly quashed by authorities. After overnight clashes with the protesters, security forces the following day maintained tight control of Tahrir Square -- the epicentre of the 2011 revolutio

Egypt releases, on bail, editor-in-chief of prominent independent news outlet

Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, has been released on bail following her arrest Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to reporters during a briefing at the State Department in Washington, U.S., February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque - RC2R7F91KIKZ

Intel: Pompeo warns off ICC, welcomes Netanyahu’s new government

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government on Sunday, mere days after warning the International Criminal Court against investigating Israel for alleged war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Amiram Ben-Uliel is brought for a verdict in the case of the 2015 arson attack, which killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents in the Israeli-occupied West Bank village of Duma, at the Central Lod District Court in Lod, Israel May 18, 2020. Avshalom Sassoni/Pool via REUTERS - RC2VQG99KFXQ

Israeli man found guilty of murder in 2015 arson attack on Palestinian family

Amiram Ben-Uliel's actions sparked outrage among both Palestinians and Israelis, but his lawyers questioned the conditions under which he confessed to the crime.

Abbas Mousavi, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, gives a press conference in the capital Tehran on May 28, 2019. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

Iran claims fuel shipment to Venezuela perfectly legal

In today's Iran media roundup, Tehran condemned possible US interference with Iranian shipments of fuel to Venezuela.

Intel: Saudi arms sale probe factored in Trump's firing of watchdog

President Donald Trump fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick last week in part because of an investigation into an $8 billion emergency arms sales for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a source on Capitol Hill told Al-Monitor.

Iraqi series produced by Saudi Arabia sparks controversy

Some TV programs on Saudi-funded channels have sparked controversy among Iraqis.

The main gate at Naval Air Station Pensacola is seen on Navy Boulevard in Pensacola, Florida, U.S. March 16, 2016. Picture taken March 16, 2016. U.S. Navy/Patrick Nichols/Handout via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC2RPD9BC4N8

FBI finds al-Qaeda link in Pensacola naval base shooter’s iPhone

Recently unlocked phones show the man who killed three people at a Florida naval base had likely been in contact with al-Qaeda.

An Iranian flag flutters on board the Adrian Darya oil tanker, formerly known as Grace 1, off the coast of Gibraltar on August 18, 2019. - Gibraltar rejected a US demand to seize the Iranian oil tanker at the centre of a diplomatic dispute as it prepared to leave the British overseas territory after weeks of detention. (Photo by Johnny BUGEJA / AFP) (Photo by JOHNNY BUGEJA/AFP via Getty Images)

Iranian tankers appear to be en route to Venezuela

The United States has called for shipments between the two sanctioned countries to stop.

KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT - APRIL 23: Citizens, wearing masks to prevent against the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, arrive at Al-Mubarakiya bazaar for shopping ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, in Kuwait City, Kuwait on April 23, 2020. (Photo by Jaber Abdulkhaleg/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Kuwait threatens jail for flouting face mask order

Kuwait will now begin jailing those who leave their homes without a face mask.