Ghannouchi Proposes Solution to Overcome ‘Constitutional Oath’ Crisis

Part of the strike by the Tunisian Airlines crews in the capital on Friday, February 19, 2021. (EPA)
Part of the strike by the Tunisian Airlines crews in the capital on Friday, February 19, 2021. (EPA)
TT

Ghannouchi Proposes Solution to Overcome ‘Constitutional Oath’ Crisis

Part of the strike by the Tunisian Airlines crews in the capital on Friday, February 19, 2021. (EPA)
Part of the strike by the Tunisian Airlines crews in the capital on Friday, February 19, 2021. (EPA)

Tunisian parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi has proposed an initiative in an attempt to overcome the political crisis in the country.

He suggested holding an urgent tripartite meeting with President Kais Saied and Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi as soon as possible to resolve the “constitutional oath” crisis.

He also called on Saied to gather heads of the several parties in the country to exchange visions and advice over the situation and the required decisions, in light of the economic, social, and health crises.

Spokesman of Ennahda Movement Fathi al-Ayadi said Ghannouchi sent a letter to the President urging him to reassure Tunisians and the world.

“Despite the differences among Tunisian political figures and the growing incitement rhetoric, Tunisia remains a country with trustful institutions, and it needs to provide medicine, food, work and security for its people, as well as ensure calm, develop a spirit of solidarity and broaden the circle of national unity,” the letter read.

Meanwhile, a group of opposition parties announced their support for the efforts by national organizations seeking to bridge the gap between Saied and Mechichi.

These efforts aim to develop practical proposals that would enable the country to overcome its crisis, they stressed.

The leaderships of the Republican Party, the People’s Movement, the Democratic Forum for Labor and Liberties party, and the Democratic Current party considered their meetings an attempt to define means out of the multi-faceted crisis Tunisia is going through.

In this regard, Secretary-General of the Republican Party Essam al-Shabbi stressed that they will try to urge a solution to the political crisis.

The Republican Party has begun consulting with the General Labor Union about its role, especially after calling for a national dialogue, presenting its initiative to the head of state, and providing details about the “Panel of the Wise and Mediators,” which will head the dialogue sessions.

Commenting on the steps taken to dissolve the differences between the two heads of the executive authority, analyst Jamel Arfaoui told Asharq Al-Awsat that it won’t be an easy task.

He pointed to the challenges facing the meeting between Mechichi and Saied and the escalation in their political positions and their unwillingness to compromise.

Both have sought to complicate the crisis from the beginning and have had no intention to overcome their differences, he stressed.



Middle East Aid Workers Say Rules of War Being Flouted

Members of the Lebanese Red Cross inspect damage after an Israeli bombardment -  AFP
Members of the Lebanese Red Cross inspect damage after an Israeli bombardment - AFP
TT

Middle East Aid Workers Say Rules of War Being Flouted

Members of the Lebanese Red Cross inspect damage after an Israeli bombardment -  AFP
Members of the Lebanese Red Cross inspect damage after an Israeli bombardment - AFP

Flagrant violations of the laws of war in the escalating conflict in the Middle East are setting a dangerous precedent, aid workers in the region warn.

"The rules of war are being broken in such a flagrant way... (it) is setting a precedent that we have not seen in any other conflict," Marwan Jilani, the vice president of the Palestine Red Crescent (PCRS), told AFP.

Speaking last week during a meeting in Geneva of the 191 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, he lamented a "total disregard for human life (and) for international humanitarian law".

Amid Israel's devastating retaliatory operation on October 7 in the Gaza Strip , local aid workers are striving to deliver assistance while facing the same risks as the rest of the population, he said.

The PCRS has more than 900 staff and several thousand volunteers inside Gaza, where more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the territory's health ministry, and where the UN says virtually the entire population has been repeatedly displaced.

- 'Deliberate targeting' -

"They're part of the community," said Jilani. "I think every single member of our staff has lost family members."

He decried especially what he said was a "deliberate targeting of the health sector".

Israel rejects such accusations and maintains that it is carrying out its military operations in both Gaza and Lebanon in accordance with international law.

But Jilani said that "many of our staff, including doctors and nurses... were detained, were taken for weeks (and) were tortured".

Since the war began, 34 PRCS staff and volunteers have been killed in Gaza, and another two in the West Bank, "most of them while serving", he said.

Four other staff members are still being held, their whereabouts and condition unknown.

Jilani warned that the disregard for basic international law in the expanding conflict was eroding the belief that such laws even exist.

A "huge casualty of this war", he said, "is the belief within the Middle East that there is no international law".

- 'Unbelievable' -

Uri Shacham, chief of staff at the Israeli's emergency aid organization Magen David Adom (MDA), also decried the total disregard for laws requiring the protection of humanitarians.

- Gaza scenario looming -

The Red Cross in Lebanon, where for the past month Israel has been launching ground operations and dramatically escalating its airstrikes against Hezbollah, also condemned the slide.

Thirteen of its volunteers have been recently injured on ambulance missions.

One of its top officials, Samar Abou Jaoudeh, told AFP that they did not appear to have been targeted directly.

"But nevertheless, not being able to reach the injured people, and (missiles) hitting right in front of an ambulance is also not respecting IHL," she said, stressing the urgent need to ensure more respect for international law on the ground.

Abou Jaoudeh feared Lebanon, where at least 1,620 people have been killed since September 23, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, could suffer the same fate as Gaza.

"We hope that no country would face anything that Gaza is facing now, but unfortunately a bit of that scenario is beginning to be similar in Lebanon," she said.

The Lebanese Red Cross, she said, was preparing "for all scenarios... but we just hope that it wouldn't reach this point".