Riad al-Shu‘aibi Paper: “Islamists in Tunisia and the Palestinian Issue: Al-Nahdah Party as a Model”

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Al-Zaytouna Centre publishes the working papers of “The Islamists of the Arab World and the Palestinian Issue in Light of the Arab Uprisings” conference.

Riad al-Shu‘aibi* presented his paper “Islamists in Tunisia and the Palestinian Issue: Al-Nahdah Party as a Model” in the first session of the first day of the “The Islamists of the Arab World and the Palestinian Issue in Light of the Arab Uprisings” conference.

Al-Zaytouna held this conference on 28-29/11/2013, in which participants included political and academic figures from Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, in addition to Turkey and Iran, among others.

Riad al-Shu‘aibi first stated that the presence of the Palestinian question in the political struggle in Tunisia dates back to the time of the Balfour Declaration, stressing that it has always been the central issue for the Islamist movement in Tunisia since its inception.

Al-Shu‘aibi pointed out that the Palestinian question is a rallying cry for various political forces in Tunisia as well, and spoke about the participation of Tunisian youths in operations carried out by the Palestinian resistance.

Concerning the vision of the Renaissance Party of the Palestinian issue, al-Shu‘aibi said that the final statement of the Ninth Conference of the movement stated that the Renaissance Party considers that the Palestinian issue is the central question of the nation, and is strongly on the side of the Palestinian people in its struggle for liberating its land, and is in support of criminalizing normalization with the Zionist entity.

Al-Shu‘aibi then stressed that pursuant to its core principles, the Renaissance Party believes in liberating all Palestine and the restoration of all Palestinian rights. Here, he stated that achieving freedom and dignity for the peoples of the Arab Spring is the first step towards the liberation of Palestine, and emphasized that the Arab revolutions brought new governments that will not hesitate in supporting the Palestinian people in resisting aggression.

* Riad al-Shu‘aibi, member of the Political Bureau of the Tunisian Renaissance Party (al-Nahdah).

Click here to download Riad al-Shu‘aibi Working Paper:
Working Paper by Riad al-Shu‘aibi: Islamists in Tunisia and the Palestinian Issue (Al-Nahdah Party as a Model) (12 page, 848 KB )