Jewish pilgrims from Tunisia, Europe and Israel perform the annual pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue, the oldest Jewish monument in Africa, on the Mediterranean resort island of Djerba, Tunisia, on May 18, 2014. (Amine Landoulsi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)[/caption]
In March this year, less than two months after its new constitution was agreed, yet another controversy hit Tunisia when twenty Israeli passengers attempted to disembark from a Norwegian cruise ship that had stopped at La Goulette port. Taken by surprise, immigration officials refused to let them in. Usually, Israelis announce their arrival beforehand, but this time they hadn’t. To many in Tunisia, the surprise arrival of these Israeli tourists seemed more like an attempt to test post-revolutionary and post-Ennahda Tunisia’s stance on Israel than a random mistake.
The incident was followed by a global campaign against Tunisia launched by pro-Israel groups. Apparently not wanting to appear discriminatory, a number of Tunisian officials, including the tourism minister and a deputy interior minister, made statements reiterating the fact that Israelis could be permitted entry to Tunisia in certain circumstances: the same hypocrital ploy used since the era of former president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali that avoids recognizing Israel while still welcoming its citizens.
When a deputy interior minister circulated a memo in April reminding Tunisian border authorities that Israelis could sometimes be permitted entry into the country, Tunisians loudly criticized their government for what some said was a clear case of tatbi’, the process of normalizing relations with Israel. It led to a meeting on May 9 of Tunisia’s National Constituent Assembly, with the purpose of withdrawing confidence from the two ministers considered responsible.
With any issue relating to Israel, Arab parliaments tend to become a hotspot of loud hawkish speeches—although those speeches rarely prompt action. Usually, Israel will be condemned in the strongest possible terms before business continues as usual. Although the Tunisian parliament was just as noisy as that of its Arab counterparts on that warm Friday in May, the end result was different: the no-confidence motion against the two ministers was withdrawn and no condemnation of Israel or anybody else was issued.
Still, Tunisia is no true friend of the Hebrew state. Tunisian fighters participated in the 1948 war, and former president Habib Bourguiba’s regime declared war on Israel in 1967 and 1973, never signing a peace treaty. Looking to take on a larger role in the Arab world, Tunisia welcomed the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1982, with Tunis hosting their headquarters until 1991;—an Israeli air strike on those headquarters in 1985 killed dozens of Tunisians. Israeli intelligence has staged a number of covert operations on Tunisian soil. “Spying for Israel” was a common accusation in Tunisian courts during Ben Ali’s rule, especially in cases involving his political opponents. The most important demonstrations during the era of Ben Ali were in support of Palestine.
Like most Arab countries, however, Tunisia has maintained some semblance of relations with Israel, and regular meetings have taken place between Tunisians and Israelis. In 1965, Bourguiba called for Arab states to accept the 1947 partition agreement. Tunisia also witnessed some of the first informal negotiations between Israel and the PLO. In 1996 Israel opened an interest office in Tunis, and Tunisia opened one in Tel Aviv, even though Tunisia never formally recognized the existence of Israel. The offices were closed at the start of the Second Intifada in 2000, but business carried on as usual. Many Tunisian businessmen and intellectuals still visit Israel and vice versa.
Moreover, Tunisia hosts an annual pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue for North African Jews—many of whom gave up their Tunisian passports to become Israeli citizens. The Tunisian government welcomes them in; under Ben Ali the number of people on the pilgrimage reached the thousands. Israelis wanting to travel to Tunisia often use a passport of a second nationality. Sometimes, however—in particular when seeking to perform the Ghriba pilgrimage—they present their Israeli travel document, and when they do Tunisian immigration authorities stamp a visa on a separate piece of paper to allow them in.
But the new Tunisian government—led since January by prime minister Mehdi Jomaa, who for decades had been based in Paris—was already facing accusations that it was too closely linked to the West, and by extension to Israel. Its response to the cruise ship crisis just added fuel to that fire. In a region plagued by a conspiracy theory whereby the Arab Spring is nicknamed the “Hebrew Spring,” the overt statements saying Israelis can in some circumstances travel to Tunisia raised many eyebrows.
Most local media waged a campaign clearly supporting the government and discrediting those members of parliament (which is already detested by many Tunisians) who had called for a confidence vote on the ministers in question. The debate over tatbi’ was transformed into a fight between hardworking ministers trying to serve their country—this time by encouraging more tourism, on which the country’s economy is rather dependent—and lazy MPs hampering their work. But not even a majority of MPs seemed to care about the issue: more than a third of the members of parliament were absent when the vote was called on May 9, and MPs of all political affiliations were divided on the issue. And, since the debate was broadcast on live TV, the Tunisian parliament was unable to blame its ministers for encouraging normalization with the state of Israel.
But the fact that the two ministers involved in the Israeli passports debacle were not condemned by parliament cannot be taken as a green light for normalization with Israel. In the middle of a transition to democracy in a country with a largely pro-Palestine population, that would be a mistake. Even more, Tunisian law prohibits allowing the entry of people holding the passports of countries it neither recognizes nor has relations with. In my opinion and those of many other Tunisians, it is unacceptable that the first government of the Second Republic acts in the same way as the old regime, refusing to acknowledge Israel while still welcoming its citizens as tourists. To begin with, every Israeli citizen is a reservist soldier, and Tunisia could not be blamed for refusing entry to anyone associated with an enemy army. Any decision to normalize relations in the future would require a popular consensus, not hasty decisions taken in response to temporary issues. The question of tatbi’ should be postponed until a legitimate government is elected and the transition ends.
All views expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, The Majalla magazine.
