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)
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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.



Palestinians Say 100,000 Residents Trapped in Israel’s North Gaza Offensive

A picture shows the damage to an ambulance at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture shows the damage to an ambulance at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Palestinians Say 100,000 Residents Trapped in Israel’s North Gaza Offensive

A picture shows the damage to an ambulance at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture shows the damage to an ambulance at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Israeli tanks thrust deeper on Monday into two north Gaza towns and a historic refugee camp, trapping around 100,000 civilians, the Palestinian emergency service said, in what the military said were operations to eliminate regrouping Hamas fighters.

The Israeli military said soldiers captured around 100 suspected Hamas fighters in a raid into Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia camp. Hamas and medics have denied any militant presence at the hospital.

The Gaza Strip's health ministry said at least 19 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes and bombardment on Monday, 13 of them in the north of the devastated coastal territory.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies. Reuters could not verify the number independently.

The emergency service said its operations had come to a halt because of the three-week Israeli assault into the north, an area where the military said it had wiped out Hamas combat forces earlier in the year-long war.

Talks led by the US, Egypt and Qatar to broker a ceasefire resumed on Sunday after multiple abortive attempts, with Egypt's president proposing an initial two-day truce to exchange four Israeli hostages of Hamas for some Palestinian prisoners, to be followed by talks within 10 days on a permanent ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday the latest meetings in Doha focused on a new outline that takes into account previous proposals and regional developments.

He said mediators would resume talks in coming days "in a continued attempt to advance a deal", without elaborating.

To date, Israel has repeatedly said the war will go on until Hamas is eradicated while the movement has ruled out end to fighting until Israeli forces leave Gaza.

Gaza's war has kindled wider conflict in the Middle East, raising concern about global oil supplies, with Israel carrying out bombings across Lebanon and sending forces into its south in an offensive to disable Iran-backed Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.

It has also triggered rare direct clashes between regional arch-foes Israel and Iran. At the weekend, Israeli warplanes pounded missile production sites in Iran in retaliation for an Oct. 1 Iranian missile volley at Israel.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Monday Tehran would "use all available tools" to respond to Israel's weekend attack.

'NONSENSE TALK OF CEASEFIRE'

North Gaza's three major hospitals, whose officials refused Israel's orders to evacuate, said they were hardly operating. At least two had been damaged by Israeli fire during the assault and run out of medical, food and fuel stocks.

At least one doctor, a nurse and two child patients had died in those hospitals due to a lack of treatment in the past week.

North Gaza residents said Israeli forces were besieging schools and other shelters housing displaced families, ordering them out before rounding up men and pushing women and children to leave the area for Gaza City and points in the south.

Only a few families headed toward southern Gaza as the majority preferred to relocate temporarily in Gaza City, fearing they could otherwise never regain access to their homes.

Some said they had written their death notices in case they died from the constant bombardment.

"While the world is busy with Lebanon and new nonsense talk about a few days of ceasefire (in Gaza), the Israeli occupation is wiping out north Gaza and displacing its people," a resident of Jabalia told Reuters by a chat app.

The Israeli military says its forces operate in keeping with international law and accuses fighters of hiding fighters and weaponry in civilian areas including hospitals and schools, a charge Hamas denies.

North Gaza was the first part of the enclave to be hammered by Israel's ground offensive after Hamas' cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, with intensive bombing largely flattening towns.

Nevertheless, Hamas-led fighters continue to attack Israeli forces in hit-and-run operations.

Hamas' 2023 attack killed 1,200 people and resulted in more than 250 hostages being taken into Gaza, per Israeli tallies.

The death toll from Israel's retaliatory air and ground onslaught in Gaza has reached 43,020, the Gaza health ministry said in an update on Monday.