Tunisia refuses normalisation with Israel, says 'global changes' won't affect stance
Tunisia will not normalise relations with Israel and its position will not be influenced by any international changes, the foreign ministry said after Morocco formally signed a normalisation agreement with the Jewish state.
"Tunisia respects the sovereign positions of all states. However, we reaffirm our firm and principled position and we will never be affected by global changes," the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
The statement added that Tunisia's anti-normalisation stance stems from the will of the Tunisian people, and conveyed solidarity and unconditional support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
On Monday, The New York Times quoted sources close to the US administration expecting that Tunisia and Oman are possibly next in line to normalise relations with Israel.
Read also: Morocco's normalisation trade-off: Western Sahara for Palestine
The Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) issued a statement on Tuesday warning Tunis against taking any step towards normalising relations with Israel, saying they reject relations "with the Zionist enemy under any pretext", and emphasised that the Palestinian issue is a central cause for the Tunisian people.
The statement added: "We witnessed the circulation of news about behind-the-scenes arrangements and undeclared meetings sponsored by France and the United States in order to convince the Tunisian state to normalise ties with the Zionist entity, as other Arab countries did, in exchange for financial incentives and aid in the form of bribes to hit the national positions of Tunisia and force the country to change its international and Arab policies."
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