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
Refusing funds will cost Palestinians, perhaps Israel Several sectors will be affected by the Palestinian Authority’s decision to reject on principle a reduced transfer of tax funds from Israel. Palestine
Eight years on, how is Morocco recovering from Arab Spring? The popular protests demanding political reforms eight years ago in Morocco have turned into social movements. Morocco
Netanyahu goes it alone Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has completely excluded Likud ministers from the party’s election campaign, choosing to stand alone even as he stands to be indicted for corruption. Israel
Putin, Netanyahu find common ground in Moscow In their first meeting since the downing of a Russian jet in September 2018, Russia's president and Israel's prime minister carefully reaffirmed their strained ties. Israel
Syria panel rushes to offer Trump options before clock runs out A bipartisan panel of experts convened by Congress to help sort out the Donald Trump administration’s Syria policy faces a tight time crunch. Syria
Erdogan blasts polling as Turkey's local elections approach President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, long a close observer of opinion polls, now indicates they are not to be trusted when it comes to March 31 local elections that may put his leadership to the test. Turkey
Tensions ramp up on Temple Mount ahead of Trump’s peace plan With President Donald Trump set to unveil his much-hyped peace plan and Israel deducting Palestinian tax revenues, the disputed compound of Al-Aqsa or the Temple Mount is crackling with tension. Palestine
Visiting Egypt, Israelis thrilled by warm welcome Egyptian intellectuals and politicians are disappointed over the refusal of the Israeli leadership to advance Palestinian statehood as promised in the peace treaty, but the people in the streets of Cairo welcome Israeli tourists. Egypt
Will sanctions suffocate trickle of Iran-US trade? With the reimposition of US sanctions, the trickle of trade between Iran and the United States could vanish altogether. United States
US presence in northern Syria serves the Kurds, not Turkey The US decision to keep 200 troops in northern Syria is a blow to Ankara. Syria
Turkey rows against strong currents in northern Syria The latest statements out of Washington and Moscow have again highlighted the difficulties Ankara faces in trying to achieve its aims in Syria. Syria
