Algeria’s Largest Opposition Party Runs for Early Parliamentary Elections

An electoral commission worker gives out a ballot paper to a voter in the presidential elections at a polling station in Algiers (AFP)
An electoral commission worker gives out a ballot paper to a voter in the presidential elections at a polling station in Algiers (AFP)
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Algeria’s Largest Opposition Party Runs for Early Parliamentary Elections

An electoral commission worker gives out a ballot paper to a voter in the presidential elections at a polling station in Algiers (AFP)
An electoral commission worker gives out a ballot paper to a voter in the presidential elections at a polling station in Algiers (AFP)

The largest Islamic opposition party in Algeria will be running for the early parliamentary elections, the date of which is yet to be announced.

Head of the Islamist Movement of Society for Peace, Abdul Razzaq Muqri, accused the extremist secular current of leading a conspiracy plan, saying it does not want elections because it has no chances to win.

Muqri criticized the secular parties in a press conference in Algiers without mentioning them, stating that the parties in question want to impose a transitional stage because they have influence within state institutions and foreign media.

Observers believe he was referring to the Labor Party and the Rally for Culture and Democracy after they expressed reservations about the meetings between Muqri, parties' leaders, and the president which resulted in the dissolution of the parliament and preparations for early legislative elections.

The parties believe the elections that brought Tebboune as president are “not legitimate” and further deepened the "legitimacy crisis".

They also believe that a two-year transitional phase can solve the ruling crisis, given that it is led by a group of figures known for their integrity. The figures will be tasked with organizing the presidential elections which will lead to a national unity government, provided that the army is not involved.

The authority rejected this proposition, indicating that it serves foreign agendas. It also accuses national parties of seeking to put Algeria on the path of chaos, as the case in Syria and Libya.



UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees Urges World to Save It from Israeli Ban

FILED - 10 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Palestinians examine the damage to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) buildings on their way back to their homes in the wake of the Israeli army withdrew from North of Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ishaq/dpa
FILED - 10 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Palestinians examine the damage to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) buildings on their way back to their homes in the wake of the Israeli army withdrew from North of Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ishaq/dpa
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UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees Urges World to Save It from Israeli Ban

FILED - 10 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Palestinians examine the damage to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) buildings on their way back to their homes in the wake of the Israeli army withdrew from North of Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ishaq/dpa
FILED - 10 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Palestinians examine the damage to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) buildings on their way back to their homes in the wake of the Israeli army withdrew from North of Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ishaq/dpa

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees urged the world Wednesday to save it from an Israeli ban that would have “disastrous consequences” for millions of people caught up in the war in Gaza.
Philippe Lazzarini, who heads the agency known as UNRWA, told the 193 nations of the UN General Assembly that they must take action to prevent Israel from implementing legislation that prohibits the agency's operations in the Palestinian territories. The laws, adopted by Israel’s parliament last month, take effect in 90 days.
UNRWA was established by the General Assembly in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment, as well as their descendants, until there is a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Associated Press said.
UNRWA has been the main agency distributing humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, where almost the entire population of around 2.3 million Palestinians relies on aid for survival amid Israel’s more than yearlong war with Hamas. Experts say hunger is rampant.
Assembly President Philemon Yang told members at Wednesday’s informal meeting that Israel’s legislation “constitutes an intolerable affront to the authority of this assembly, an affront to international law and, most importantly, an affront to the human dignity of innocent Palestinian civilians."
Yang said the assembly extended UNRWA’s mandate — most recently in December 2022 — by an overwhelming majority until June 30, 2026. He urgently called on Israel to comply with its international legal obligations, the UN Charter and UN resolutions.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly said there is no alternative to UNRWA, and Yang stressed that a halt to its activities “would exacerbate an already catastrophic humanitarian situation.”
Israel alleges that around a dozen of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. It recently provided the UN with over 100 names of UNRWA staff it claims have militant ties.
The agency denies it knowingly aids armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants among its staff. Lazzarini said the UN has asked Israel for details so it can investigate but has received no response.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon reiterated Israeli accusations that UNRWA is riddled with supporters of Hamas and educates Palestinian children to “hate.” He stressed that Gaza’s future cannot include Hamas or UNRWA.
Sitting next to released Israeli hostage Mia Schem, he strongly criticized the General Assembly and all other UN bodies for failing to condemn Hamas or to hold a single session dedicated to the hostages.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, echoed calls for countries to act collectively to save UNRWA, accusing Israel of an “open assault” against the agency partly aimed at stripping Palestinians of their refugee status and rights.
“As we gather here, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are facing imminent death,” he said of northern Gaza.
Acting UN humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya said Tuesday that northern Gaza has been under “a near-total brutal siege” for the past month and Palestinian civilians are starving while the world watches.
“These atrocities must stop,” Msuya said in a posting on X. “Israeli military ground operations have left Palestinians without the essentials to survive, forced them to flee for safety multiple times, and cut off their escape and supply routes.”
Lebanon’s UN Ambassador Hadi Hachem, speaking on behalf of the UN’s 22-member Arab Group, called on the General Assembly to confront Israel’s “dangerous precedent” and take urgent measures to defend UNRWA and uphold international law.