Tunisian Party Calls For Designating Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Organization

A riot police officer fires teargas during clashes with supporters of Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia at Hai al Tadamon in Tunis May 19, 2013. REUTERS/Anis Mili
A riot police officer fires teargas during clashes with supporters of Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia at Hai al Tadamon in Tunis May 19, 2013. REUTERS/Anis Mili
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Tunisian Party Calls For Designating Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Organization

A riot police officer fires teargas during clashes with supporters of Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia at Hai al Tadamon in Tunis May 19, 2013. REUTERS/Anis Mili
A riot police officer fires teargas during clashes with supporters of Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia at Hai al Tadamon in Tunis May 19, 2013. REUTERS/Anis Mili

Tunisia's Free Constitutional Party bloc announced Monday its decision to submit a new draft resolution to classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a “terrorist organization” and a movement deemed “hostile to the civil state".

The Muslim Brotherhood should be designated as a terrorist organization in Tunisia, a petition submitted to the Tunisian Parliament by head of the Tunisian opposition figure and President of the Free Destourian Party (PDL) Abir Moussi said on Monday.

In a press conference, Moussi explained that the new draft resolution calls on the government to formally “classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization that is hostile to the civil state” and push the state to “consider any Tunisian person or entity that has connections to this organization as being guilty of a terrorist crime according to the law on terrorism.”

“Today we want a clear political position. Political parties and politicians who want to openly dissociate themselves from the Muslim Brotherhood organization must prove so and vote in favor of this draft motion,” Moussi said.

“Some political entities and civil society groups in Tunisia have leaders and members who belong to the Muslim Brotherhood and receive funding from the organization,” the PDL leader said, adding that such a situation is “inconceivable” as it is a “threat to national sovereignty.”

Ennahda and its leaders have in the past denied affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood organization and reiterated their denunciation of terrorism.

But Ennahda’s critics and rivals, including the PDL, have highlighted the ideological and historical links of Ennahda with the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist affiliations and criticized its links to Brotherhood-aligned governments in Ankara, Doha and Tripoli as being detrimental to the national interest.

On June 3., Tunisia's Free Constitutional Party submitted a bill to the parliament to express rejection to any foreign military intervention in Libya, especially the Turkish intervention. Yet, it didn’t garner sufficient votes to be passed.



Palestinians in Jenin Observe a General Strike

A Palestinian police officer attempts to disperse demonstrators during a protest against clashes between Palestinian security forces and militants in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A Palestinian police officer attempts to disperse demonstrators during a protest against clashes between Palestinian security forces and militants in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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Palestinians in Jenin Observe a General Strike

A Palestinian police officer attempts to disperse demonstrators during a protest against clashes between Palestinian security forces and militants in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A Palestinian police officer attempts to disperse demonstrators during a protest against clashes between Palestinian security forces and militants in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Palestinians in the volatile northern West Bank town of Jenin are observing a general strike called by militant groups to protest a rare crackdown by Palestinian security forces.
An Associated Press reporter in Jenin heard gunfire and explosions, apparently from clashes between militants and Palestinian security forces. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded. There was no sign of Israeli troops in the area.
Shops were closed in the city on Monday, the day after militants killed a member of the Palestinian security forces and wounded two others.
Militant groups called for a general strike across the territory, accusing the security forces of trying to disarm them in support of Israel’s half-century occupation of the territory.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is internationally recognized but deeply unpopular among Palestinians, in part because it cooperates with Israel on security matters. Israel accuses the authority of incitement and of failing to act against armed groups.
The Palestinian Authority blamed Sunday’s attack on “outlaws.” It says it is committed to maintaining law and order but will not police the occupation.
The Palestinian Authority exercises limited authority in population centers in the West Bank. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast War, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.
Israel’s current government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says it will maintain open-ended security control over the territory. Violence has soared in the West Bank following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there.