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
Israel’s soft power victim of Netanyahu’s policies The absence of Israel from the Paris Peace Forum reflects the spirit of its leadership, belittling multinational initiatives and neglecting soft power tools. Israel
Erdogan heads for Washington, where Trump's hands already full Turkey’s president is on his way to Washington in a bid to salvage battered ties, but despite his positive chemistry with the US president, the Turkish leader is likely to hit a wall. Turkey
Islamic Jihad leader's elimination serves both Netanyahu, Hamas Hamas' silence amid the violence with Israel indicates that the rulers of Gaza are shedding no tears over the fate of assassinated Islamic Jihad leader Bahaa Abu el-Atta, and the escalation is benefitting Israel's embattled prime minister as well. Palestine
Rouhani says Iran won't scrap nuclear deal, defends breaches President Hassan Rouhani says staying in the nuclear deal will benefit his country while defending Iran's latest rollback of commitments, which European signatories are "extremely concerned" about. Originals
Where are the other IPOs in the Mideast? The Middle East needs to grow companies that do not depend on the state as a key investor. Legacy: Gulf
Intel: What Russia’s defense minister is up to in Egypt Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is leading a military delegation to Egypt for the sixth session of the two countries' joint commission on defense cooperation. Egypt
Turkish Central Bank suffers big credibility loss The Turkish Central Bank’s obedience to the government, both in terms of monetary policy and interventions in the foreign exchange market, is badly damaging its credibility among foreign investors, the ultimate cost of which will be borne by the crisis-hit economy. Turkey
Eastern Syria fighters accused of brutality after videos emerge The commander of Ahrar al-Sharqiya, an armed faction whose fighters have been accused of extrajudicial killings, spoke to Al-Monitor about his militants' relationship to the eastern Deir ez-Zor region. Syria
Fourth Cabinet reshuffle raises questions about economic reforms in Jordan Jordan’s prime minister conducted a Cabinet reshuffle for the fourth time since ascending to power to advance economic reforms required by a loan deal with the International Monetary Fund. Jordan
Egypt boosts ties with Syria In response to Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria, the Egyptian parliament hosted Syrian Ambassador to Egypt Bassam Darwish in a move to show its official support for Syria against Turkey, and as a prelude to better diplomatic relations. Egypt
IDF says it had no choice but to kill Islamic Jihad senior The Israeli military operation to kill Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu al-Atta was planned months in advance, after a series of rockets were fired toward Israel, including on Ashdod while Prime Minister Benjamin was delivering a speech there. Palestine
Is Iran trying to hijack Iraqi protesters’ demands? Political parties in Baghdad that are close to Iran may be trying to use Iraqis' ongoing protests as an excuse to change the parliamentary system to a presidential one — something the protesters have never asked for. Iraq
